Fireworks
by SmileyPenguin
Summary: The journey to Atlantis is a long one for a navigator. Commander Rourke's daughter Angela is hoping that this is one adventure where she'll find something more than knowledge, even if she doesn't know what it is yet. Maybe some romance with someone aboard
1. Setting Sail

When Dad said that he was going to look for Atlantis, I looked at him like he was crazy. When he said that I was coming with him, I just about died right then and there. Now I'm gonna be stuck on this stupid ship for who knows how long. Don't get me wrong; I love to travel with dad. I always have since I was little. I can honestly say I have visited more distant countries and ruins of lost civilizations than I can remember. It's just…well…I don't think we should plan a trip to a lost civilization that never existed.

"You packed **yet **Angie?"

"Almost Dad! I'm trying to put an entire tent in a duffel bag! You do it sometime and tell me how it goes!"

"Alright but hurry up! The sub will be diving shortly."

It amazed me how Dad could put up with me so nonchalantly. I finally got the zipper all the way up and let out a long sigh.

"Time to go I guess…"

I grabbed my duffel bag and my messenger bag that Dad bought me for the trip and headed for the living room where he was waiting. He smiled and led me out. I locked the door with my key and put it in the mailbox for my neighbor to find. My house would be in good care while I was gone. Dad's new issued car sat outside to take us to the sub site.

"Dad, you sure we should go? I don't know how I'll fare on a submarine."

"Come on Angie, you've been on boats before and you don't get seasick. You'll be fine. Just follow what I say and make sure to find me in case we start to sink."

Needless to say, that didn't make me feel any better. Now, I was terrified. We got in the two front seats of the car and took off.

I looked at Dad as he concentrated on driving. He was always very enthusiastic about going on these trips with me. Last time he went somewhere, he and a team went to Iceland to get some old book. I was at home, finishing up my college degree. I took some extra years to get some more training in engineering. His looks suited him. His hair was still as gray as it had always been, and his face said that he was a confident man. A bit less with his few wrinkles he got with his age, but his square chin always balanced things out.

"Keep staring at me like that and you just might distract me long enough to crash the car." He joked.

"Sorry Dad. I'm just nervous, I guess."

"Well, just relax Angie. The crew is nice and professional, and they'll be lots to do."

I trusted him to not lie to me about something so stupid. We drove a little while longer and finally reached the ship. Dad was right to hurry me, but I wasn't about to tell him that. The ship set sail almost exactly after we got on. We went below the deck on the lift and there sat an enormous 1000-foot sub. I gaped at the sheer size of it.

"Well, your clothes and your other bags are in storage."

"On that monster of a rowboat?"

"_Attention. All hands to the launch bay. Final loading in progress_." said a weary, monotone woman over the speakers.

"Ah. Sounds like the boys upstairs are coming down." Dad said in an old soldier voice. I sighed as the crew came down on the lift and scattered.

"Salutations Commander!" said a cheerful voice from behind us.

It was Dad's current employer Mr. Whitmore. He was a nice old man who had funded the Iceland expedition, along with this one.

"Ah, Mr. Whitmore, good to see you before we board. This is my daughter Angela." He said, directing attention to me.

"A pleasure to meet you sir." I said formally, reaching out for a handshake.

"Ah, don't be such a stiff. Come here!" he laughed heartily, pulling me into a friendly, yet backbreaking hug. I let out a strangled cough and smiled through the pain. For an old guy, he sure was strong.

"G-got it!" I gasped as he let me go. "No Formality!"

"That's more like it!" he laughed. "It's good to meet such a prodigy of your old man! No offense to your age Commander." He joked.

"None taken." Dad laughed back.

Someone else caught his attention. It was a skinny guy in a long coat and glasses. He looked like a bookworm and completely overwhelmed by the enormity of the sub and crew. He looked a little sick too.

"Milo! Where you been? I want you to meet Commander Rourke. He led the Iceland team that brought back the journal."

"Milo Thatch. Pleasure to meet the grandson of old Thaddeus." Dad said to the guy named Milo, shaking his hand. "See you got that journal. Nice pictures, but I prefer a good western myself." Dad said like an old man.

"Pretty impressive, eh?"

"Boy, when you settle a bet, you settle a bet." said Milo.

Mr. Whitmore turned Milo to me with a strong hand and introduced us.

"Milo Thatch, this is Angela Rourke, the Commander's daughter. She's become an expert on navigation and ancient cultures, along with engineering in the last year."

"Really?" he said, exasperated.

"Heh…Guilty as charged!" I laughed nervously. Dad just looked on, proud.

"_Attention all personnel. Launch will commence in 15 minutes_."

"Mr. Whitmore." Dad said in parting.

"Rourke. Angie."

"It's time." Dad said to Milo and me.

"Bye Mr. Whitmore!" said Milo elatedly, running onto the ship.

"See you soon Mr. Whitmore!" I said.

"Make us proud boy!"

The enormous metal door shut and we all moved to the headroom in the sub while it prepared for the journey ahead. Dad moved up to the big platform with Helga, his lieutenant. She was a bold woman who knew when to take charge of things, and I respected her. I just hope Dad wouldn't rub her the wrong way. That was unlikely, but he could be headstrong sometimes.

"Lieutenant, take her down."

"Diving officer, submerge the ship."

The crew started with their orders, turning valves and setting depths, submerging the sub and everyone in it.

Milo stared out the window at the undersea dark in awe. I shook my head.

"Does it seem amazing?" I asked him.

"It does! We're going to Atlantis!"

"…I sure hope so. You should go find your bed before some off duty officer does. It's happened to me more than once. Oh! And you looked a little seasick earlier. Have some dry crackers and peppermint. It helps a lot."

"Thanks. I will. You've been on a lot of boats?"

"Yeah. Twenty-seven times in the last five years."

"Whoa. Well, thanks for the tips."

"Welcome."

He took the sack he had been carrying and headed for the rooms. I heaved a heavy sigh, hoping that my nervousness wouldn't portray to the rest of the crew, especially Dad.

I walked the stairs up to where the rest of the crew was. Dad met me at the top and held a hand to the lot.

"Everyone, this is my daughter Angela. She'll be joining this expedition as civil navigator of the crew.

"Nice to meet cha'. Call me Angie. **Never** Angela. Call me Angela, and **you die**."

"Nice to see you're being so polite today." Dad joked. "Okay team, introductions."

"Hey, I'm Audrey. I'm the top engineer and mechanic." said the girl with dark hair and overalls. She had a nice character about her, tough but fun. She had a Spanish accent in her voice.

"Really? I took engineering in college. Hope I'll be able to help you out sometime."

"Thanks! You won't believe the workload I've got around this place." She laughed appreciatively. I smiled back and turned to the next guy.

"I'm Joshua Sweet. Nice to meet Rourke's daughter. Good man. Have you had your physical yet?" he said in a speed-talker kind of way. He was tall and a little intimidating, but his nice kind voice shook any notion of that away.

"Nice to meet you too. Should you…know about my physical?"

"Well, yeah. I'm the ship's medical officer." he laughed.

'Oh, sorry. Just sounded like you were curious."

He laughed heartily and patted me on the shoulder.

"You're alright!"

"Thanks." I said, turning to the mustached guy.

"Who would you be?"

"He's the demolitions expert. His name is Vincenzo Santorini, but to keep our heads from exploding, we just call him Vinny." Audrey said smoothly, joking.

"I resent dat 'head esploding' ting." He said sarcastically. He had a nice Italian accent.

"It's okay. I can appreciate a good nickname. Nice to meet cha' Vinny."

He smiled and reached out his hand to shake mine. I shook it and smiled at him.

"We got a cook named, well, Cookie. Don't ever eat his food. Trust me. I've handled enough cases of Cookie-itis to know that." said Sweet.

"Note taken." I said, a little scared.

"That's Packard up there, the communications expert. Don't worry, no matter how dour she seems, she'll get to like you when least expect it." said Dad.

"_I heard that_." said Packard over the intercom.

"And with ears like that, I should be careful what I say." he whispered, sheepish.

"…_Better."_

"I hate to be the one to ask this," Audrey started. ", but where's Mole?"

"Mole?"

"Oh, don' worry. You'll know him when you see 'im." Vinny smirked.

"I'll find him and catch up later." said Sweet. He headed down the steps and into the bowels of the ship.

The crew seemed nice and friendly. They all portrayed a sense of knowing what they were doing. I felt a little inexperienced compared to them. I was pretty experienced myself, but not in any of their fields, except for engineering. That was Audery's field But then I remembered that I had skills of my own that they didn't have, and I felt a tiny bit better.

I started to daydream of what Atlantis would be like if we actually found anything. Maybe it would have a city made of bones, or fish-people, or something like that.

"Nah, I'm just thinking up weird things again."

"_Bonjour_." said a raspy voice.

I jumped a little in surprise. There was a short man with a dirty coat and a strange head device with a tiny lamp on it. He had heavy shadow on his face and a tiny moustache. He was smiling strangely, showing large front teeth, and dirt fell from him as he moved around ever so slightly.

"…Mole, I presume?"

"_Oui_! Who are you, _mon_ _cheri_?" he said in a toothy, flirty grin.

"Careful Mole. She's Rourke's daughter. She outranks you, and I'm sure her father won't appreciate any flirting." Audrey laughed.

"That I won't." Dad said casually, diverting from a conversation with Helga for a moment.

Mole's grin evaporated into thin air and he slunk into a corner, grumbling to himself.

"Don' mind Mole. He always tries to get in pretty girls faces." Vinny, sighed, shaking his head at the creepy little man.

I felt a little weird being called pretty, but I let the feeling pass when I saw Milo coming. I wondered what job he had on the ship.

Dad must've seen him coming too.

"Welcome to the bridge Mister Thatch." Dad said, getting everyone to look. "Okay everybody, I want you to give Mister Thatch your undivided attention."

"Good afternoon." said Milo nervously. "Can everyone h-hear me okay?"

Audrey's gum pop was the only sound in the awkward silence.

"Heh…okay how…how 'bout some slides?"

Everyone just looked at each other, probably thinking the same thing by the looks on their faces. 'What a dork.' I just watched him, wondering if he would trip or something.

"The…The first slide is a depiction of a creature." Milo announced, rifling through his slides. "A creature so frightening, that sailors were said to be driven MAD by the mere sight of it!" he yelled, really selling his performance.

It seemed he accidentally put a slide on the projector of himself in an embarrassing swim number, dangling a newly caught fish for a fluffy cat.

"_Hubbub hubbub_" joked Packard over the intercom in a monotone.

"Uh sorry, that's…wrong…"

"Geez. I used to take lunch money from guys like this." Audrey said haughtily to Vinny. He chuckled slightly.

"Anyway, this…uh THIS is an illustration of the Leviathan; the creature guarding the entrance to Atlantis."

"With someting like dat, I would have white wine, I tink." Vinny said for a laugh. Audrey just rolled her eyes somewhat amused. I laughed a little at his joke, but kept listening to Milo.

"He's a mythical sea serpent. It's described in the book of Job. The-The Bible says 'out of his mouth go burning lights, sparks of fire shoot out, but more likely it's a carving or a sculpture to frighten the superstitious."

"So we find this masterpiece, then what?" Dad asked.

"WHEN do we DIG?!" Mole shouted coming out of nowhere.

"Actually we don't have to dig." he said, taking out a piece of charcoal and drawing on the projector screen. "You see, according to the journal, the path to Atlantis will take us down a tunnel t the bottom of the ocean, and we'll come up a curve, into an air pocket, right here, where we'll find the remnants to an ancient highway that will lead us to Atlantis. Kind of like the grease trap in your sink."

"Cartographer, Linguist, Plumber; hard to believe he's still single…" said Helga sarcastically. Dad just smirked.

"You said there would be digging…" Mole grumbled, tugging at Helga's sleeve.

"Go away mole."

"So Angie, does all this sound plausible?" Dad asked. Everyone looked to me.

I thought about it for a minute, and **then** I replied.

"Well, it seems possible…We should have the air pocket thing down…and HOPEFULLY we don't run into any sea monsters, the only thing I'm concerned about is this curve."

"Why's that? Milo asked. Dad and everyone looked on expectantly.

"Well…This sub is considerably big…What if we can't fit it through? We can't just leave it underwater; the pressure could make it explode. Then, we'll have no way back. On the other hand, if we leave enough crew members on the ship and take the smaller ships to the air pocket, they could take it back up to the surface momentarily and reset the course from the previous dive…but then we'll be short-staffed for what we could encounter on the highway…"

Everyone seemed impressed with my quick analysis, but it did put that question in the air.

"Well…We'll have to see about all that when we see the curve for ourselves." Dad said with a strong tone of leadership. I admired him for that. I always had.

"Captain, you better come look at this sir!" shouted the sailor at the wheel.

"Okay, class dismissed. Give me exterior lights."

He, Milo and Helga went up to the platform while the others and I stayed down below. I didn't listen to their conversation, or Milo's translations, or Packard's repeating of Dad's corporal name. I just leaned over the railing and hoped everything went as planned. The last thing that all of us needed was one thing screwing everything up.


	2. Que Sera Sera

**Hi every body! I'm sorry this is so late. I lost the Atlantis tape I owned, and it almost got thrown out. I was MAD. So, here's chapter 2 of Fireworks! I love writing this…Let's go snorkeling…..**

* * *

"Commander……..Commander…………Commander…………Commander-"

"**Yes** Mrs. Packard? What is it?"

I was surprised Dad answered as soon as he did. Usually, he tried to keep things like that going for so long, people gave up. I thought it was funny when I was little, so I adopted the habit.

"I'm picking up something on the hydrophone I think you should hear.'

"Put it on speakers."

She complied, and flipped a switch at her control station. A sort of groaning and whooshing sound filled the room, possibly the whole ship.

"What is that?" I asked.

"Nothing like I've ever heard…" Audrey mumbled, unsure.

"What is it? A pod of whales?" Dad half-suggested.

"Uh-uh. Bigger." Packard confirmed.

"It sounds metallic. Could be an echo off of one of the rocks." Helga suggested, messing with the controls herself.

"You wanna do my job? Be my guest."

"Is it just me, or is that getting louder?" Milo asked, uncertainly.

Everyone seemed to freeze, taking in the strange sound for the moment, but then it vanished. Disappeared into thin air, as if it had never hung in our ears in the first place.

"…Well, whatever it was, it's gone now…"

"Helmsman! Bring us about." Dad ordered the sailor steering the sub through the water. "Tighten our search pattern to slow us to-"

The whole ship lurched suddenly, sending everyone to the floor and strewing things all over the sub floor. I landed near Audrey and Vinny against the bar of the railing, hitting my back hard.

"Ow! What's going on?!"

The ship rocked and lurched and swayed fiercely, and Audrey ran into the ship.

"OUTTA THE WAY!!" she shouted to sailors in the antechamber.

There were horrible screeching, moaning sounds from outside, and the alarms were going off inside, lights flashing red with distress. Out the window was a giant lobster-like creature striking up against the ship in order to send us down.

"Tell Cookie to melt the butter and bring out the bibs. I want this lobster served up on a silver platter!!" Dad shouted to Helga. She wiped her mouth of the blood that had taken to her lip from the fall and set everything into action

"Load the torpedo bays! Sub pod crews, battle stations!!"

She gasped as another lurch sent her down. Everyone ran for the sub pod entryways and yelled at one another to hurry along. Vinny and Mole hopped into their own fighter sub and took off, leaving me by myself to get to a pod. Milo was thrown down to the window on the floor, which was the floor now, and was face to face with the creature outside.

"Jiminy Christmas! IT'S A MACHINE!!"

"Launch Sub pods!!" Dad yelled to the crew, ordering them to fire at the monster. Their missiles shot at it, but they seemed to not even phase it. It was surprised and it let go of the ship. Dad seized the moment and ordered the helmsman to move.

The ship got far enough away, and Dad gave the order again.

"Fire torpedoes!!"

The fighter sub pods shot, and the creature got angry. It shot some sort of blue lightning at the ship and it started to sink.

"Angie! Get to a sub pod! NOW!!"

I panicked and ran down the hallway to the pods. Sweet, Audrey and Milo were ahead of me and Helga rushed us in.

"Move it people!! Sometime TODAY would be NICE!!" she yelled, frustrated.

"Come on!! Everybody grab a seat and buckle in!!"

We all rushed to the seats imbedded in the sub pod wall. I was in between Audrey and Sweet, Milo next to Audrey.

"Lieutenant, get us out of here!!" Dad yelled from the control seat, Helga hopping over into her seat and taking the controls. I could hear the creature outside; it's screeching ringing through my ears, even through we were in the thick walls of the sub. She was struggling to get the controls to work, shoving against it with all her strength. I sat; too scared to do anything that could help.

"Lieutenant!!"

"I'M WORKING ON IT!!"

The ship was hit with another lightning bolt, and Helga saw another way out. She kicked a lever, snapping the pod into power. It blasted a hole in the bay door.

"Hang on!" she shouted, showing that she was back in control. We blasted out of the new door and made our way into the ocean's depths. In a horrible fiery blast, I could hear the thousand-foot sub suddenly explode into millions of pieces.

We sped along the floor, narrowly avoiding structures in our path and debris hit our pod. Another jolt shook everyone as we moved, but luckily we were strapped in.

"Where to Mr. Thatch?" Dad hollered back.

We kept on getting shoved around as Milo opened his book and flipped through the pages.

"We're looking for a big crevice of some kind!"

Dad scanned the ocean walls for such a thing. We all kept bumping around in our seats.

"There!!" he yelled. "Up ahead!!"

"That's a little steep!!" I yelled. "Not every ship can make it!!"

"Do you want to go back!?" Dad yelled from the front.

I shook my head violently and Helga went over the broadcasting system to the other ships.

"All crafts, make your mark 20 degrees down angle!!"

"Roger! 20 degrees down angle!!" someone yelled back.

"Right behind ju!!" Mole shouted.

I could hear that thing behind moving closer, and us, moving faster. It hit the floor and striking one ship down.

"_Sacre bleu!!"_

"We're getting killed out here!!"

The creature hit a wall trying to keep up as our ships sped up, disappearing into the fissure. It thrashed its monstrous claws at us, it's body pinned behind the rock walls above. Milo was panicking as ships crashed all around us and we kept on getting hit.

"It's only a grease trap! It's just like a sink! ITSONLYAGREASETRAP-IT'SJUSTLIKEASINK!!"

Audrey looked pretty scared to me, and Sweet was holding on the best that he could, seeing all those men crashing out there. I must have looked pretty pale and scared then, because that's how I felt. The lightning was still being fired down the hole, despite the curve of the tunnel. Everyone held onto their seats as we pulled up sharply. The front window cracked a little under the pressure. But there it was! The opening that would get us out. Mole and Vinny's ship was in front of us and was going up fast. We came up to the dark surface…At least…what was left of us…

Helga let out a long sigh and opened the ceiling hatch to let us out. Dad got up after her and shined a light to the new place up ahead. Vinny and Mole were getting out a little ways away from us.

* * *

Sweet let a candle in a helmet out into the water. As the memorial of the candle floated out, the water was so tranquil. It seemed to laugh at the fact that a battle had just taken place. Everyone hung their heads, mourning. Dad spoke up. He seemed sad, yet as always, detached and professional.

"Seven hours ago, we started this expedition with two hundred of the finest men and women I've ever known…we're all that's left…"

I felt like there was a heavy weight in my chest. I didn't know any of those people personally, but it hurt that all of those people were dead thanks to something we might not even find. Dad continued.

"I won't sugar-coat it gentlemen…We have a crisis on our hands. But we've been up this particular creek before, and we've always come through, paddle or no paddle. I see no reason to change that policy now. From here on in, everyone pulls double-duty. Everyone drives, everyone works." He announced, starting up the stone steps.

"Looks like all our chances for survival rest with you Mr. Thatch. You and that little book."

Milo looked down at the book he held in his arms, I think wondering if all of this was worth anything.

"We're all gonna die." said Packard too seriously, flicking her cigarette away.

* * *

"Okay people saddle up. Lieutenant, I want this convoy moving 5 minutes ago." Helga took action.

"Moliere, you're on point. No Vinny! Audrey's taking the oiler. You know the rules. I want you 50 yards behind that truck at all times!" Vinny held his arms out in a 'What did I do?' sort of way that looked really funny. Everyone got to their jobs. Audrey was readying the vehicles and Mole scurried up into the digging machine's pit.

"Angie, I want you to sit up front with Mole to navigate us though the tunnels." Dad instructed me.

"With Mole!? But…"

"But what?"

I knew it was going to sound stupid, but I said it anyway.

"…He scares me…"

Dad just shook his head and smiled, putting his hand on my shoulder.

"Just keep him off you and you'll be fine."

Dad sure had a way of scaring me more when he tried to comfort me. I hated it. Milo was honking the horn of a little trooper car like a kid with a new noisy toy. Dad sighed and went to deal with him.

I walked to my doom and Audrey laughed when she saw me.

"Good luck with Mole!!"

"Shut up Audrey!!"

She stuck her tongue out and smirked. Vinny was passing by and stopped beside me.

" 'ey, you'll needa 'dis." He said, giving me a bar of soap from his pack. I gave him a confused look.

"Are you saying I stink?"

His face flushed pale and he waved his hands in front of him defensively.

"Uh-No! No-I justa meant-M-Mole hates soap!! Anytin cleana really!! I didn'-"

"It's okay! I get it!" I laughed. "Thanks anyway, I have a feeling I'll need to use this."

He smiled and went back to his job. I sighed and went to the front with the digger and…Mole.

He spotted me from the tall machine's seat and smiled creepily.

" 'ello _mademoiselle_!! What brings you here?"

He was really creeping me out.

"Hello…Mole. Rourke sent me to work from up there…" I said with a fake smile.

"With me?"

"Yes…with you…"

He smiled and laughed to himself. I laughed through my teeth and climbed up the footing on the side of the digger, sitting beside him. Milo was in the car in front of us and I guess he was preparing with Dad.

"I never did get your name, _mon cheri_…" he said in a raspy voice. I grimaced inwardly and had my hand on the soap.

"It's Angela. Angela Rourke."

"Angela…Ze name itself speaks of beauty and a pure soul…" he said his eyes closed.

"Heh…Thank you Mole…Just to let you know…I have soap in my coat pocket."

His smile once again evaporated and he hissed a bit under his breath, muttered some French, and turned back to the steering wheel. I smiled to myself.

All the machines were firing up, and Milo hopped into his car. Mole fired up the digger's engine. We stopped suddenly, sending me lurching out of my seat.

"Mole!!"

"_Non_! _Non_! It twas not my fault! It twas his!!" he cried, pointing to Milo's car out the doorway. Mole honked the loud steam horn for him to move faster.

After some time (and some near-tearful objections from him), Milo's car was hooked up behind the digger and we were moving along the road.

The lights shined along the path, one machine following the other. There were ancient-looking pillars and high ceilings, the ever-cavernous darkness all around. Mole mostly kept to himself (surprisingly), but always with an eye on me. I was going to have to hurt him…

* * *

We came upon an opening in the cavern wall with two doorways. Everyone got out to face what was going on as Milo searched through his book.

"Which way Milo?!" I shouted to him as I stood by the digger. As navigator, Dad said I should be up there. Milo flipped through his book and read a page, then pointed definitely to the left one. When I gave the signal, a replacement driver drove in Mole's place. He started in when a gigantic caterpillar with pincers leapt out. I nearly screamed and the digger's brakes screeched. The driver quickly backed up as Milo turned his book right side up and sheepishly pointed right. Everyone looked **MAD**.

"Sorry!! Sorry!! You okay Angela?!" Milo shouted.

"Everything alright Angela?" Dad shouted as well.

"Yeah…and both of you!! Call me Angie!!"

* * *

I soon saw how everyone functioned. As I stood nearby, estimating everything I was supposed to as Navigator (as bored as I was then), I watched Vinny walk up to Milo as he finished chugging a canteen.

"You didn' just drink dat didyu?" he asked as Milo wiped his mouth and nodded. "Dat's not good! Dat's nitroglycerin!!" Milo choked and slowly began to panic.

I saw Mole sneaking up behind Milo and he set down the canteen slowly. I decided to watch.

"Don' move. Eh, don' breath. Don' do anyting. Except **pray**...maybe."

"_**BOOM!!**_"

"Bah, ha ha ha ha!!"

It was kinda mean for the two of them to do that, but it **was** hilarious. Plus, Vinny's laugh was funny. Nice, but funny. Mole's laugh was nasally and jumpy.

* * *

About a day passed as the machines made it through the tunnels. I noticed that the others were ignoring and excluding Milo. He was a bit of a geek, but nobody should be left out, especially someone who was so excited about all of this. I helped him out when he needed it, but the others didn't seem to notice. They just went about everything like planned. We ate meals together, and Milo kept his nose in that book or a translation of some kind. Audrey still teased me about things like working with Mole and being daddy's girl, but I knew she was just pulling my leg. Sweet was just as nice and ever-concerned, and talkative. It always annoyed me a little. Mole was just as flirty and weird, but I saw it more as irritating than scary now. Vinny or Audrey always clunked him on the head or Sweet threatened him with cleaning supplies, and it was nice of them. One day, I was going to have to hit him, just once. Vinny was always kind of meek, but he had a lighter side that grew on you, once you got past the whole "convict" exterior and explosions that could happen at any time. Packard was **there** at least and one time, she offered me a cigarette. I told her that I didn't smoke, and her expression didn't change much and she went off on a story of how her friend's husband was cheating on her. She didn't seem like a gossip, but there you go.

* * *

A colossal pillar blocked our path, and there was a huge canyon in-between us and the other side.

"Well Angie, whatda we do now?" Audrey asked.

I thought about it for a moment or two. I'd seen something like this before when Dad and I'd gone camping. We had to get across the river, so we went further along it and found a fallen log. I leaned over into Vinny's ear and whispered what he ought to do. He grinned and got to work.

"Good night! Would you look at the size of this!? It's gotta be a half a mile high at least!!" he shouted as Vinny tugged him by his coat collar to safety. It-It must've taken hundreds-thousands of years to carve this thing!!"

Vinny pushed down the handle on his TNT, smiling strangely, and the pillar collapsed under itself, spanning the length of the gorge.

" 'ey look, I made a bridge. It only took me like-wha' ten seconds. Eleven tops." Vinny said, elbowing him in the arm and walking away.

I shook my head at Milo's devastated face, getting back to the digger as we crossed our new way across.


	3. Snow and Memories

Hey every one! Thanks for reading! Word of warning though, my finals are coming up, but I only have to take one in History, because my teacher's like that. But I will have to study, I suck at History…Anyway, I will keep writing when I can, so keep reading! I…I love you ALL!!…I'm hungry.

* * *

As we trudged along the open paths, it seemed to get colder. Soon the ground was covered in snow, and the temperature was practically sub-zero. Everyone dug out heavy coats from the emergency stuff and bundled up. It was still dark, but the snow made it seem a little clearer. My breath lingered in the cold air around me.

"It's freezing!!" Milo cried.

"Aw, quit your crying!" Audrey scolded him.

"Milo, I've been in colder weather than this." I assured him.

"W-where…was th-that?" Sweet shivered.

"Antarctica. The wind-chill alone there was enough to hospitalize three guys. It got down to –120. It's not that bad here. It's only around –20 tops."

"You say that so casually." Dad laughed.

"Oh, come on Dad, you know me. Besides, you've been in worse than this too."

He smirked and kept driving. Mole was shivering in his seat a bit, and his headlamp was shaking and clanking around. I smiled and poked my head out the door.

"Hey Vinny? How are you holding up?"

He pointed to a small fire he had started on his cart. All the blood drained from my face as I climbed down the ladder as fast as I could. I ran through the snow and put out the fire with my canteen water that hadn't frozen yet.

" 'ey, wha' did you do dat for?" he asked, giving what I think was a frown.

"Are you NUTS!?" I whispered angrily, smacking him upside the head. "Starting a FIRE on a cart filled with EXPLOSIVES!!"

"Yeah, so?". He rubbed his head and stared at me impassively.

I ran my fingers through my hair and stared him right in the eyes.

"In the least, what if Helga had seen you instead of me!?"

His eyes widened and he pulled his match out of his mouth and stuck it behind his ear.

"Uh, tanks, I _really_ don'ta wanna go back to jail." He said nervously.

"You're welcome. Just please be more careful with things like that."

He nodded vaguely and went back to his cart. I sighed, and trudged back towards the digger. I noticed that it had stopped completely, as had the other machines.

"Hey Mole!" I shouted. "What's going on?"

"_Nous sommes coincés dans la neige!!_" he yelled back in an angry blur of French.

"Come again?"

"We are stuck in ze snow!!"

"What!?"

Audrey came from behind the digger in a thick coat and shook the snow off her pants.

"It's no use. Every machine's engine is stalled 'cause of the heat, except for the digger."

"What? Aw man!!"

"Yeah. Sweet's busy passing out supplies for the teams. The machines will be up and running if we can jumpstart them from the digger. In the meantime, everyone's just sitting around while I do all the work!" Audrey huffed

"Need any help?"

"Yeah. I could use another mechanic's help."

"Alright, just let me get some tools and stuff. I'll be back in a second."

I went off to the digger, reaching under my seat and getting my tool bag. With the sling over my arm on its long strap and the tall seat, I could see everyone wandering close together on the ground, mindlessly.

"Ugh…People are so strange in emergencies…Hey!! Vinny!!"

He heard me from the ground and walked to the digger, shivering slightly.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked.

"A liddle cold…Lika you said, itsa 20 below."

"Well, could you light a fire for everyone? I know explosions are more your thing, but I know you've got plenty of matches."

"Well…"

"Please?" I put on the lovable face I used to win Dad over when I wanted something. Vinny looked fairly uncomfortable for a second, then smirked.

"Okay. I was justa gonna say I don'ta know how ta make a campfire. But, have it your way!"

He walked off towards the others, waving and smiling. I slumped, feeling stupid for what I had done.

"Just don't use any dynamite!!"

He kept on walking, and I was scared that he hadn't heard me.

"Hey! You coming Angie?!"

I snapped back to reality and ran back to the digger.

"Socket wrench."

"Here you go Audrey."

"Thanks. So, Angie, how are you holding up on the trip?"

"Oh, I'm fine. I'm just worried about everyone else."

"Well, just don't kill yourself." She half-laughed. "Pliers."

"Here. So, how are _you _doing? Is Dad keeping you busy?"

"You can say that again. I'm always tightening a screw here or loosening a bolt there…I can't imagine having Rourke as my Dad!" she laughed.

"Ha ha! Yeah, he can get like that sometimes. You just gotta learn to live with him. I never did. That's why I got my own place."

We both laughed and talked for a while, then we tried to get the show on the road. I climbed up to the digger's driver seat.

"Are all the jumper cables hooked up?" I yelled to Audrey.

She looked down the line of machines and flashed me a thumbs pup.

"Let her rip!" she yelled back.

I started the engine and let it sound off. I could almost feel the energy surge to the machines. I looked out to Audrey and she gave me a thumbs up yet again.

"Hey everyone!! We're back on track!! Get over here!!" She yelled to everybody. They slowly gathered back by us and went to their positions.

"Good job Audrey!" Sweet thanked her.

"Yeah, nice 'andiwork." Vinny said.

"Don't just thank me. I needed Angie to do this too."

"Thanks **Audrey!!**" I yelled from the digger seat.

"Uh, sorry Angie…" Milo said back. "Thanks!"

"What ever…" I joked.

"Nice job ladies." Dad yelled from his car.

We both smiled, laughing and remembering the talk we had.

Milo was shivering almost violently as he looked in his book and pointed the way.

* * *

"I'm still kind of cold…"

"_I_ will keep you _warm_…" Mole snickered creepily. I nearly pushed him out of the digger, but unfortunately, he caught himself and climbed back into his seat.

"What have we learned?" I asked him.

"…No flirting today?"

"Close enough."

Mole slowed the digger to a halt and leaned out the window.

"**Zat…**is a **big **wall…"

"Yeah…How are we gonna get past that?"

I climbed out the sides and stood with some of the others.

"Looks like we have a little roadblock." Dad said, pointing out the obvious. "Vinny, what do you think?"

Vinny looked up at the wall with a challenged gaze.

"I could un-roadblock that if I had abou' 200 of deese." he said, pointing to a stick of dynamite and looking in his bag. "Problem is, I only got abou'…10, plus, you know, five of my own. And…couple a' cherry bombs. Road flare. Ey', too bad we don' have soma nitroglycerin, ey' Milo?"

Mole burst out laughing, hyperventilating as he remembered he and Vinny's practical joke.

"Looks like we're gonna hafta' dig." said Dad.

Mole gasped gleefully, smiling wide.

"**It** will be my **pleasure…" **He happily flashed a thumbs up.

Once we were all out of the way, he started up the digger and steadily bore into the deep rock. It sounded like a giant jackhammer until the digger backfired. I waved the exhaust from in front of me, coughing along with Mole.

He panicked, flipping the lever like a madman.

"Aah! Oh! Stupid! You! Are! STUPID!!" he shouted, banging his head on the horn and sounding it obnoxiously.

"I don't understand it!" Audrey groaned, opening the digger's back hatch with Milo behind her. "I just tuned this thing up this morning!"

I sighed and turned to Sweet.

"Another wonderful stop on our adventure to oblivion." I said sarcastically.

"Hmph! Tell me about it…"

For someone who talked as much as he did to say something like that, it was kind of funny to hear.

Dad was talking to some men when he came over to Sweet and I.

"Angie how is everything going?"

"Good enough. Audrey said she could handle this herself. I think Milo's giving her a hand. I'm just here, talkin' to Sweet." I sighed.

"Well, that's good. Keep out of trouble, okay?"

"Don't I always?"

He laughed, walking away to chatter on with Helga.

"What did he mean by that?" asked Sweet.

"Well, once when I was nine, we were in Africa on an expedition, and I kinda…upset some wildlife…"

He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, expecting more from the story.

"I teased some rhinos and they trampled our camp." I said, almost proud.

He laughed and patted me on the shoulder.

"One of your finer memories?"

"Yep! My shining achievement!"

"She lives!!" Mole shouted in elation. The digger's engine roared and started digging into the rock again.

"Hey Angie! Guess what?"

Audrey and a sore-looking Milo were done and came over to Sweet and me.

"What?"

"Milo fixed it! Can you believe it?"

"…To be honest…No, I can't."

"Well," Milo said somewhat smugly. "The engine-"

Audrey punched him in the arm, and he rubbed it sorely.

"He just got lucky." Audrey insisted forcefully.

"Well, okay…Come on, everyone's leaving us behind."

* * *

"This is it. It's gotta be." said Milo, looking up at the bright green light on the cave ceiling.

"Alright," Dad said to everyone. ", We'll make camp here."

"Why is it glowing?" Audrey asked.

"Feh! It is a natural phosphorescence." Mole explained, sounding unimpressed.

"Dat ting is goin to keep me up all night, I know it." Vinny complained.

"**Come an' get it**!!" Cookie yelled, ringing a triangle I guessed he had been keeping somewhere.

"Fer the appetizer, Caesar salad, ez-car-go, and yer oriental spring rolls." Cookie said, plopping mushy goop onto everyone's tray. Audrey made a face.

"I wanted ze _escargot_…" Mole mumbled. Audrey shoved her tray to him.

"Knock yourself out."

Cookie strolled over with his haunted pot of food to Milo. I stared at it frowning, but then I smiled a little. I started to sculpt it with my spoon into a familiar form.

"Hey look everyone, I made Mole!"

They laughed together, but Mole stopped stuffing his face. He somehow swallowed and grimaced at me.

"Zat looks nusing like _moi_."

"You know, we've been pretty tough on the kid." Sweet confessed. "What d'ya we cut him some slack?"

"Yeah, you're right. Hey Milo! Why don't you come sit with us?" Audrey shouted across the cave.

"Really? Y-You don't mind?"

"Nah, park it here." She pointed to the seat next to her, stretching out to it invitingly.

"Gee, this is great. I mean-you know it's an honor to be included in your-"

A wet raspberry noise sounded off as Milo sat down on Mole's whoopee cushion. Mole rolled onto his back and laughed hysterically at his joke.

"Mole!!"

"Eh, forgive me!!" he gasped. " I could not resist!"

"Hey Milo, don't you ever close that book?" Audrey asked, curious and annoyed.

"Yeah, you must have read it a dozen times by now." Sweet commented.

"I know but this…this doesn't make any sense. See in this passage here, the shepherd seems to be leading up to something; he calls it the heart of Atlantis. It could be the power source the legends refer to, but-then it just…it cuts off…It's almost like there's a missing page."

"Kid, relax." said Vinny. "We don' get paid overtime."

"You're getting PAID for doing this!?" I shouted. "Aw man…"

"I know, I know.' Milo laughed. "Sometimes I get a little carried away. But hey, that's this is all about, right? I mean discovery, teamwork, adventure…Unless…maybe…you're just in it for the money?"

"Money."

"Money."

"Money."

"Money."

"I'ma gonna say…money."

I wasn't in it for the money obviously.

"I'm here because of an imposing father, with a _small_ sense of adventure."

"Ah, well, I guess I set myself up for that one." Milo sighed, rubbing his neck.

"Something wrong with your neck?" Sweet asked.

"Uh, yeah, I must have hurt it when-"

Sweet grabbed him by the chin from behind and cracked his neck. It sounded painful.

"Ah! AWHH!!"

"Better?"

"Yeah! Hey, how'd you learn how to do that?"

"An Arapaho medicine man."

"Get outta here."

"Born and raised with 'em. My father was an army medic. Settled down on the Kansas territory after he met my mother." He pulled out a photo of an army man and a native woman with a baby on her back.

"Ah! It's a baby Sweet!" I smirked.

He smiled, embarrassed.

"I got a sheepskin from Howard U and a bearskin from Old Ironcloud. Halfway through medical school I was drafted. One day I'm studying gross anatomy in the classroom, next I'm sewing up rough riders on San Juan Hill."

"Main course!!"

Every blurted out excuses, I said I was full or some lie.

"Ah haw haw! Don'chu worry! It'll _keep _and _keep_ and _keep_"

"Thank god I lost my sense of taste years ago." said Packard, putting out her cigarette in her food. We all poured our food into the fire, causing a mini-eruption as Mole licked his tray clean.

* * *

"Aren'chu going to pitch up your tent?" Vinny asked Milo.

"Uh…I did."

Vinny handed his sleeping bag to Milo and Put up his tent _better_.

"Guess I'm still a little rusty at this. I mean I haven't gone camping since…Well since the last time my Grandpa took me." he apologized.

"I never got to meet your grandfather. What was he like?" Audrey asked. I listened too as I put up my tent.

"Where do you start? He was like a father to me, really…My parents died when I was a little kid, and he took me in." He laughed softly.

"What?" Audrey laughed.

"I-I was just thinking…One time, when I was eight, we were hiking along this stream and I saw something shining in the water. It was a genuine arrowhead. Well, you think I'd found the lost civilization the way Grandpa carried on about it. It wasn't until I was older that I realized that the arrowhead was just some compressed shale mixed with Zinc Pyrite that had fractured into a nice isosceletic triangulate."

"Hee hee! Zat is so _cute_!!" Mole giggled in striped pajamas and a stuffed mole.

"Say, Audrey," Milo asked. "No-no offense, but how does a _teenager_become the chief mechanic of a multi-million dollar expedition?"

"Well, I took this job when my Dad retired. But the funny thing was he always wanted sons, right? One to run his machine shop, and the other to be middleweight boxing champion. But he got my sister and me instead."

"So, wha-what happened to your sister?" he asked.

"She 24 and 0 with a shot at the title next month. Anyway, I'm saving up so my Papi and I can open another shop."

"Forget your jammies Mrs. Packard?" asked Milo. She looked somewhat ready for bead, her hair in curlers and a green facemask on.

"I sleep in the nude."

I got kind of scared then.

"You're gonna need a pair of these." Sweet told Milo and me, throwing us blindfolds. "She sleepwalks."

"You needa help with your tent Angie?" Vinny asked me.

"No, but thanks anyway. I've done this enough times, and it's almost up."

He shrugged and laid down on his mattress, tucking a match behind his ear.

"Well as far as me goes, I just like to blow tings up." He said, pulling his blindfold on.

"Come on Vinny," Sweet taunted, pulling up Vinny's blindfold and snapping it back down onto his face. "Tell the kid the truth."

He frowned heavily, holding his hands together and giving in."

"…My family owned a flower shop. We would sell roses, carnation, baby's-breath, you name it." He seemed very torn apart saying that. Milo shook his head and smiled. I giggled under my breath.

"One day, I'm makin' about three dozen corsages for dis _**PROM, **_you know, the one dey put on their wrists, and _**everybody**_, dey come 'where is it, when is it, does it match my dress?'…It's a nightmare. Anyway, I guess there wasa this leak next door of gas or what, _**BOOM!!**_ No more Chinese laundry. Blew me right through the front window." He lit the match and stared at it.

"It was like a sign from god. I founda myself dat boom."

I liked Vinny's story. His past was the exact opposite of how he seemed now.

"So, Angie what about you?" Milo asked me.

I froze and couldn't seem to muster a story like everyone else.

"W-well…When I was real little, Dad was always off on some trip while I was home with Mom. When Dad came home, he would always bring me something home, like a necklace or a doll. Mom and I were really lonely when he was gone. She took care of me all by herself…I…guess it was too much for her, and she got sick. She died when I was nine. Dad didn't make it home in time to see her. He's never forgiven himself for it. Since then, he's taken me everywhere that he's gone for his job."

Everybody was quiet for a minute.

"Wow, sorry guys, that must have been really depressing. I didn't mean to bring everybody down like that."

"It's okay." Milo stuttered.

"Rourke always seemed kind of depressed. He mentioned you and your Mom on the Iceland trip." Sweet told me.

"Really? What did he say?"

"He said that you were always there when he needed you and that he was proud of you, and that he missed your Mom…Samantha, I think."

"…Yeah. That was her name. I have a picture of her here."

I pulled out Mom's picture, and everyone leaned in to see her. They saw what I had seen a thousand times before, but I think it would never mean the same to them as it did to me. She was much more beautiful than this picture could show. She had long blonde and curly hair, unlike my dark black hair that I go from my dad. In the picture, her eyes were gray, but in real life, her eyes were periwinkle, I think. I could never tell. My eyes were an ugly brown. She had the nicest smile, and I could never smile right. She was smiling at me as a baby in her arms, my eyes were happy and I was reaching out her with small hands. Dad with his dark hair yet to turn gray stood behind us, smiling proudly at his world.

"She's beautiful." Audrey said, wowed.

"_Elle est jolie!_"

"I don't know what you just said Mole, but never say that about my mom again."

He grumbled and dug clawed at the ground a little way's away. I shook my head and went back to the others.

"That's Rourke!? Aw man, he must have been so sore when his hair grayed out!!" Audrey laughed. I laughed with her, knowing that he was.

" 'ey, is dat you as a baby?" Vinny asked.

I felt embarrassed, but nodded. He looked like he was at a loss for words.

"Dat's you…as a baby."

"Yes, I think we've established that Vinny." I laughed. He rolled over onto his side, trying to go to sleep.

"I can't believe that you were ever a baby." Audrey joked. "You're too lively to have been a slow, crawling!"

"Uh…thanks. I think."

Mole dug into the ground and pushed himself into the ground, snickering and turning out his light.

"What's Mole's story?" Milo asked Sweet.

"Trust me, you don't wanna know." Sweet hurried on. "Audrey, don't tell him. You shouldn'a told me, but you did. So now I'm telling you, you don' wanna know!" Sweet blew out the gas lamp and it was dark. I pulled the blindfold over my eyes and laid back into my tent, hoping sleep would come soon.

* * *

By the bye, "_Elle est jolie" _means "She is lovely". Just tellin' it like it is. Later Days, crazy peoples!


	4. The Art of Conversation

**The rating may change soon for dramatic language. To T. Heh...Tooty...heh heh...Never mind, enjoy!!**

* * *

I woke up suddenly to loud snoring. I poked my head out of the tent. It was Cookie mumbling something about Indians or bacon grease, I wasn't really sure. I laid my head on my arms and stared into the dark cavern. It was really hard for me to get back to sleep once I woke up unless someone talked to me, like my mom used to do when I woke up from a storm or a nightmare.

"Hey, Vinny!" I whispered loudly, poking my head out. His tent was pretty close to mine and no one was in between us, so I hoped no one else would wake up.

"Mm…nah…I didn't lighta that fuse…"

"Vinny!"

"Wha-Angie?" he groaned, slightly startled. "Whatza matter?"

"I can't sleep. Talk to me Vinny."

"Wha? Go back ta sleep." He groaned again, crawling back into his tent.

"I told you, I can't sleep. Do you hate talking with me that much?" I fake-pouted.

"N-no! I juz…" he stuttered, poking his head back out. He sighed and laid like I was. "Go ahead."

"Do you think we'll find Atlantis?" I asked.

"Who knows, we migh or migh not. Like I told Milo, we still get paid."

"Is that really all you're doing this for? Money? There's gotta be more to it than that."

"Well, if you wera given the choice of staying at Turkish prison with a roommate named Cut Up who liked to show you his loads a tattoos or getting' out and getting' paid to do what you love to do, what woulda you choose?"

"Okay…I'm scarred for life…"

He laughed quietly, shaking his head. I threw a pebble at him off the ground.

"Ow! 'ey! Wha' waz dat for?"

"You shook your head at me! I hate it when people do that! Especially Dad. It makes him see like he's upset with me! It makes me pretty mad."

"Yer pretty close to your dad, huh?"

"Yeah. He's pretty much everything to me. I got this from him once." I pulled out my necklace from my shirt and held it up for Vinny to see. It was an emerald disk with a hole in the top where the silver chain connected.

"He brought this back for me from Beijing. It belonged to a high priestess."

"Impressive."

"Isn't it though?" I laughed. "It was the last thing he brought me before I started going on trips with him."

"Have you been to a lot a' places?"

"Oh yeah. It hard to remember them all sometimes though."

I yawned softly and stretched my legs out behind me.

"See. I told you I'd get tired soon enough…Vinny?"

"Hm?"

"I'm glad my Dad made me come here, whether or not we find an Atlantis…"

"Glad to hear."

I turned over on my side and nestled into my mattress.

"Night Vinny…"

"Night Angie."

* * *

"FIRE!!"

I jolted up suddenly, my hair rapping around my head hastily. I pulled it away and poked my head out the tent to see what was going on.

"What is Milo yelling about?" I yawned, asking myself. My eyes widened at the sight around me.

Everything was engulfed in flames. There were abnormally bright fireflies clouding the air. Everyone was running around and panicking like maniacs. I grabbed my bag and ran out.

"Get some water on that fire!!" Helga yelled to soldiers.

"No time!" Dad yelled back. "Get into those caves!! Move it!! Move it!! Move it!!"

Everyone piled onto the bridge in machines or on foot, panicking all the while.

'Jeez, you think the army would be a little more calm in this kind of situation…' I thought. I was scared too, but hell, I wasn't trained not to be. I climbed into the digger as it was moving along the bridge, and Mole was already in driving.

The cars in the back were skidding onto the bridge to get away while the digger was up front. Some of the firefly things I guess got into the engines and some of the cars in back were in flames. One suddenly exploded and took out the bridge behind us in a sweltering blast of rubble and cars that didn't make it ahead in time. The giant glowing lamp smashed down into the bridge and split it down the middle, sending all the cars sloped down wards. The digger's brakes squealed as Mole tried to keep it on the bridge.

"Oh nono nonononono!!"

I shut my eyes and held on to the digger as we fell into the cavernous stone region farther underground. Everyone was hitting their brakes and swerving out of control, desperately trying to maintain power over their vehicles. I lost my grip and felt myself slip out of the digger, as there were the sounds of crashing cars around me.

* * *

"Alright, who's not dead? Sound off."

Everyone moaned and showed that they were alive.

"Dang blasted bug done bit me on my sit-upon! Somebody's gonna hafta suck out this poison! Now don' everybody jump up at once." Cookie complained.

My head hurt like I'd never imagined and I coughed up some dirt. I couldn't see anything and my leg hurt extremely. I reached down and it was warm and wet.

"Dad!" I coughed, panicking. "Help!!"

"Angie? Where are you!?" he shouted.

"Are you okay?" Audrey called out.

"I can't get up! I got thrown out of the digger and I'm blind!"

"Stop panicking Angela. It's just dark. Somebody, flip on the high beams before she has a heart attack!" Dad sighed, sounding more relieved.

It was brighter, and I looked around to find that I was in a jagged hole in the ground. I could see my leg now. There was a huge gash and I couldn't breath.

"Angie, where are you!?" called Vinny. "Cana you stilla hear us?"

I snapped out of my fear and lifted my head up, breathing soundly again.

"Vinny! Over here! Please, hurry!"

Vinny was looking down on me and reached his hand down to me.

"Come on Angie, take my hand."

I grabbed on to the rocks around me and stood up on my other leg. I pushed myself up and grabbed Vinny's hand. He pulled me up and I sat myself up on the edge, Dad, Sweet, Audrey and Mole came over to us. Helga was checking to make sure that some soldiers had survived.

"_Mademoiselle_! You are injured!" Mole cried.

"Ouch! That looks painful. Let me have a look at that." said Sweet, inspecting my leg. He crouched down and looked at it. Dad crouched as well and looked me over alarmed.

"Are you okay Angela? Can you stand on that?" he asked like he always did when I got hurt. Panicked yet authoritative.

"No. It hurts a lot. I got freaked out by the blood, but the pain from the gash is killing me." I winced.

"It's pretty deep. It'll get better soon enough, but you're not walking anywhere for a long time. Overall, you'll be fine as long as you don't put any pressure on it."

Sweet pulled some bandages from his side bag and wrapped my leg.

"Thanks Sweet. You're the best."

He laughed and (what it felt like) smacked my shoulder.

"Ah! Easy! Still a little sore from that tumble…" I strained.

"Sorry…"

* * *

"Audrey." Dad shouted. "Gimme a damage report."

"Not as bad as it coulda been. We totaled rigs 2 an 7, but the digger looks like it'll still run. Lucky for us we landed in something soft."

"Pumice ash. We are standing at ze base of a dormant volcano." Mole explained, shifting his eye gear at the ash and then up close to Helga's face. She shoved it back with a flare gun and fired it up into the air.

"It just…keeps going." She said in an astonished yet disappointed way.

"Maybe dat's our ticket outta here." Vinny observed.

The flare hit the top and exploded into its signal.

"…Maybe not." Helga came back with, more disappointed.

"Ze magma 'as solidified in ze _bowels _of ze volcano, effectively blocking ze exit."

"I got the same problem with sauerkraut." added Packard. I made a face to myself.

"Hold on, back up! Are you sayin' this whole volcano could blow at any time?" Sweet asked, more wary now.

"No no no no. Zat would take an explosive force of _great_ magnitude."

Dad and Helga looked to Vinny, who was messing away with a screwdriver on an alarm clock with dynamite wired to it.

"Maybe I should do dis later, huh?"

That dope…

"If we could blow the top offa that thing, we'd have a straight shot to the surface." Dad suggested. " Mr. Thatch, what do you think?"

No answer.

"Mr. Thatch? ……Thatch?"

Everyone shined their flashlights around, looking for him. When I wasn't paying attention, Sweet scooped me up and sat me on his back, my legs over his waist.

"Thanks Sweet. I was gonna need a ride soon."

He laughed, and I could feel his chest rumble under me. It was pretty weird, but hey, who am I to pass up a kindly friends help when my leg's out for injury?

Mole got into the digger and started through the rocks to search for Milo. I was till on Sweet's back when Vinny passed.

"Hey Sweet, pull over. Vinny!"

He turned to me and had to look up.

"You're nota sposed to be taller dan me…" he said, smiling.

"Hey! I'm **_tall_** now, get used to it. " I laughed. "Thanks for pulling me out of that hole."

"No problum."

"Hey!" Sweet said under me.

"And thank you Sweet for patching me up and giving me a ride." I said, hugging his neck.

"Alright, I was just looking for a thank you."

We continued to look for Milo. The digger burrowed through the rock wall and Milo was on a cliff, looking off. Everyone moved along the digger's side and looked out to. I pushed myself to see over Sweet's head and saw what everyone else did.

It was a beautiful waterfall with clouds above it. All the steam from the waterfall made it look like there were two skies, both with clouds floating around them. Sitting atop the waterfall, right in the clouds it seemed, was a mountain all by itself. It was the most elegant and strikingly beautiful thing that I had _ever _seen.

"**Sweet** mother a' Jefferson Davis!" Cookie cried out in astonishment.

"It's beautiful…" Audrey breathed,

"Milo I gotta hand it to you," said Sweet, patting Milo on the shoulder. "You really came through."

There was a strange whistling noise, like the wind, and five strange beings flew behind us and started pushing us back. They wore giant wooden masks that glowed and carried spears that curved at the ends.

"Well I take that back."

"Holy cats, who're these guys!?" Dad exclaimed, putting his hand on his gun.

"Dad, don't shoot them!" I yelled.

"They gotta be Atlantians!" Milo whispered yet somehow shouted to us.

"What!?" cried Helga. "That's impossible!"

"I seen this back in the Dakotas!" Cookie said warningly. "They cun smell fear just by **looking** at 'che. So keep quiet."

One of them stepped forward, it's spear ever-ready.

"_Na shigaten comfrenden-nion! Na fare saganka teftua-aton? Beselt-tubon airta." _The being said quickly in a language I could not understand.

"I sink it's talking to you." Mole said, tugging on Milo's arm.

"_Na fare sen_g_a_nka_ tuo-aton!? Beselt-tubon airta."_

Milo stepped forward and started speaking the same language. Easing sideways towards the being, he began a conversation with it.

"_Leb…ay…sseneck dop do-wei-ren-to! Flebso du penecka!"_

The being removed its mask slowly to reveal a young girl. She had long white hair and a dark complexion, blue eyes, and a crystal hanging from her neck. She had some kind of armor on her left arm and a tattoo on her left cheek that moved up under her eye. She continued talking to Milo.

"_Prow-eh ten-dum cunum mock en nugleptum bentekay pareycayk_?" she asked him questioningly_._

"_Kag_…uh…_waganei_…_preed!"_

"_Kag waganei…Wagonos preedus es esenen?"_

"_Eda suo michay viaton." _Milo said back with more confidence.

"This is lingual romai." she said in English suddenly.

"_Parle vous François_?" asked Milo in French.

"_Oui monsieur_!"

"Ze speak my language!" shouted Mole, bursting out from behind Helga and Milo. He motioned for the girl to crouch down to his level.

"_Pardon mademoiselle_…" he whispered something into her ear and obviously angered, she punched him in the face.

"Oo! I like her!" Sweet smiled, clapping as I hung around his neck.

"I'm tempted to make a whack a mole joke, but I'd spoil the moment." I laughed.

"Hmph, 'bout time someone hit 'im. I'm just sorry it wasn't me." said Audrey.

Everyone scattered around to meet the new people. There were various international greetings, but everyone was glad that we weren't going to die after everything we'd gone through.

"How do they know all these languages?" Audrey asked Milo.

"Their language must be based on a root dialect. Just like the tower of Babel."

"Well, maybe English is in there somewhere." Dad said, pushing Milo out of the way, a little too hard actually…

"We are explorers from the **surface world**! We come in **peace**!" he shouted out enthusiastically.

The girl turned and smiled.

"Welcome, to the city of Atlantis."

* * *

**Well, I'm sorry that this chapter has taken so long. I guessed on the Atlantian but if you watch the movie at the same time like I did, It's pretty close to it. My mom was supposed to have heart surgery, on Friday the 13th, but things didn't go right (**_which I think was lucky on the unlucky day_**…) and she seems more stressed than if she had gotten the surgery…Anyway, the next chapter will be up soon enough. Keep reading please! Oh, and thank you for reading! Oh and don't forget to floss! It's important to your dental health. I don't floss, but that's none of your business.**


	5. Nobody Answers

**Hello, I would just like to say that the loooooooooonnnng conversation between Kida and her father was not only excruciating to listen to over and over and over…and over, but it will be translated via captions on the movie. I just didn't want it to be mindless rambling. Keep in mind that The Atlantis team doesn't know what they're saying. Thank you.**

* * *

"Come, you must speak with my father now." said Kida, pulling on Milo's arm.

"Squad B, head back to the shaft. Salvage what you can.' Dad ordered. "We'll rendezvous in 24 hours."

All the soldiers and the trucks that had made it moved across the wooden bridge. Below us was a giant pit-moat type thing filled with lava.

'Now I know where all the steam comes from. It's from the waterfall hitting the lava. So much for ground clouds…' I thought.

Sweet sat me down in the passenger seat as gently as he could it seemed.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah. Thanks again."

He smiled and went around to the driver's seat, starting down the bridge.

"_Uh huh huh_…I'm so _**excited**_." said Mole in a creepy way as he sat in a truck behind us. Vinny was sitting next to him driving, looking at him like he was crazy. Mole was starting to get funny, but he was still crazy. Just…funny crazy.

From behind, I could see Milo talking to Dad and Helga, feverishly so, but they were talking amongst themselves. I wondered what they were talking about, but I dropped it. Neither Dad nor Helga was really any fun, so they couldn't be talking about anything that was of any interest to me.

* * *

Atlantian guards opened giant stone doors for us all, and I was getting a little tired of traveling around on Sweet's back. I peaked up over his head to see a huge room filled with exotic-looking things. The floor in front of us was just stone platforms in the water, with plant life all around, and birds around gently. There was an older-looking man resting on a stone chair across the room. He was holding a staff in his hands and had many lined tattoos on his face like the girl. His eyes were white, making me wonder if he was blind.

"Is this her father? The one she was talking about?" I asked Sweet quietly.

"I think so." he whispered back.

The Atlantian girl went ahead of everyone and started a conversation in Atlantian with him.

"_Neginta neptope. Wedabos senebeb baerno-timayc." _She said, bowing to the man. Milo bowed too. **(Greetings your highness. I have brought the visitors.)**

"I guess he's the king." Sweet commented.

The king looked angry.

"_Morg tav ag wiisay punayle benkey do torv. Il tenep gamosay thoytay, do manap teareep." _**(You know the law Kida. No outsiders may see the city and live.)**

"_**Tob-Tope**__…ludenebay guam-gayso pogon-naybtay caysonay __**caso-gonto**__!" _she said, looking like she was pleading with the man. Milo looked interested as to what they were saying and pulled a book from his bag, writing in it. The man got a little firmer with how he talked. **(Father…these people may be able to help us.)**

"_Weesh dos septem-soring guam alba tey-**cem!**_" he said louder, motioning his hand to us. **(We do not need their help.)**

"We're in trouble…" I whispered.

"_Ob Tob-Tope…" _the girl pleaded. **(But Father…)**

"_Vu sili-tort."_ He said, raising his voice. _"Cagas dos tesh-tem nep you teb tem norp gemp." _**(That is enough. We will discuss this later.)**

The man lowered his hand and sat back in his chair and Milo put away his book.

"Your majesty," Dad said, bowing in an old-fashioned way, "on behalf of my crew, may I say it is an honor to be welcomed to your city." Milo bit his knuckle, protesting as Dad walked towards the king.

"Uh…Excuse me. Commander?" he coughed awkwardly.

"You presume _much _if you think you are welcome here…" said the king. What was Dad doing!? After all that shouting and begging between the king and the girl, wouldn't he think it was best to just to…oh, I don't know, **WALTZ** up to a king and impose himself!?

"Sir," he said, sounding agreeable, "We have come along way looking fo-"

"I know what you seek, and you will not find it here." the king warned. "Your Journey has been in vain!"

"What does he mean by that?" I whispered to Sweet. I could feel him shrug. Dad wasn't giving up.

"But we are peaceful explorers, men of science."

"And yet, you bring weapons." the king laughed.

"Our weapons allow us to remove…obstacles we may encounter."

"Some obstacles cannot be removed with a mere show of force. Return to your people." He said, standing up, hitting his staff on the ground. "At once."

"Your majesty, be reasonable."

"Dad, what are you doing!?"

"Uh, sir?"

"Not now son." Dad murmured, regarding Milo.

"Trust me sir, we'd better do as he says." Milo hinted. Dad looked like he was thinking.

"May I respectfully request that we stay one night, sir? That would give us time to rest, re-supply, for me to get medical attention for my daughter's wound and be ready to travel by morning?" he said, motioning to me.

I shot Dad a 'Don't drag me into this!' look, but he didn't digress. The king was looking at me and my blood-soaked bandaged leg, then the crew.

Now the king looked like he was thinking.

"…Very well. One night…That is all. Kida! Please treat the young girl's injury."

"Well, thank you your majesty." He said, starting to leave.

"Sweet, please leave Angie in the _care_ of our _caretakers_." Dad said. Sweet carefully sat me on a step and smiled.

"It'll be alright." He assured.

"Dad…"

"Trust me, you'll be taken care of. I'll find you later, I promise."

I watched as my friends walked away. Audrey and Mole looked sorry, and Vinny gave a small wave. I waved back, feeling weird. It was like I was being abandoned. I knew I wasn't, but still.

Milo looked back with a gaze directed to the girl that had me puzzled, like he didn't want to leave. The girl gave him the same look. I wondered what it was about, thinking of the possibilities, but moved on. I turned to the king and the girl and smiled politely.

"Um…sir?"

He looked at me, looking a little mad. Truth be told, that didn't help my edginess.

"I apologize for my father's behavior. He's just a little…determined sometimes. Please forgive him."

He looked stern, but nodded.

"Your father seems like a good man. He cares for his men and his daughter, even though he comes here for reasons beyond the common man. He is forgiven."

I wasn't sure what he meant by some of that, but at least I did what I set out to do.

"How did you injure yourself?" the girl asked me.

"Oh, I fell down a shaft earlier into the caves and cut my leg on a rock."

"So the big man was carrying you?"

"Yeah. Sweet's a nice guy."

"Who is _sweet_ and _nice_?"

"Uh, never mind."

She pulled her crystal necklace from around her neck and put it to my leg. It glowed and I felt better. **Really** better! Like, the pain just vanished. I unraveled the bandages and the gash was gone. I looked up to her, amazed.

"How did you…"

"My crystal has healing powers. All Atlantians wear them."

"Thanks gir-I mean…uh…what's your name?"

"My name is Kidagakash. My people call me Kida. What is your name?"

"My name is Angela, but you can call me Angie."

'She seems nice. Maybe we'll be friends before I have to leave.' I thought.

I stood up on my leg, feeling a little unbalanced. My legs had fallen asleep, despite the pain. I felt great!

"Thank you so much! No more human taxi service!" I laughed happily.

"You're welcome." she replied. "So, that man is your father?"

"Yeah, he's a handful sometimes."

Her face got a cloudy look on it, and her voice grew soft.

"And your mother?"

I could feel a twinge in my stomach when she said that. I think she could see my reaction.

"My mother got sick and died when I was very young."

Her eyes widend.

"My mother was…_**taken**_ from us when I was young also."

I felt a connection there, but it wasn't a happy one. She's the one who broke the silence.

"I feel selfish for asking this, but in return for healing you, could you do something for me?"

"Uh, sure what's that?"

She grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the door and lowered her voice to a whisper.

"Could you please tell me about the world you come from? My father would not approve of it, but I want to know everything!" I guessed her father was the king, based on how they didn't get along and what she had just said.

My mind flashed back to the look that Kida and Milo gave eachother, and my brain hatched an idea.

"Um, alright, but I wouldn't be the person to ask. I don't keep up with everthing that goes on in my world. The person to ask for that would be Milo." I convinced her.

"Who is Milo?"

"The guy in the glasses who speaks your language. He is very smart, and could answer all of your questions better than I could."

She didn't have to think about it for very long before she smiled widely.

"Yes. I will go see him now! First I have to speak with my father, but then I shall seek him out! Thank you very much Angela!"

"It's Ang-…Never mind. Angela is fine" I sighed, looking happy rather than ticked off.

I guessed that it was all right for me to go, so I bowed to the king and left the excited Kida to talk to her father.

* * *

I closed the stone door behind me. Everyone was outside and Mole was crying. Dad was the first to spot me with my newfound mobility.

"Angie! You're all healed up?"

"Yeah, don't ask. I'm still confused about it." I said.

"Well everyone, we're in Atlantis. Go…surround yourselves with the culture." Dad said. I was wondering if we'd get to explore when the king was talking about us going home.

I walked around for a while, seeing lots of weird stuff. I saw a bird that looked like a giant multi-colored stork. It came up right behind me and tried nudged my head with it's big beak. I thought it was so _**cute**_. There were lizards that flew through the air as I walked below them. In a big lake under a waterfall where the fishermen were working, I saw some fish that glowed bright red under the water's surface.

"All these fish…I wonder if people's stomach's glow after they eat them? Do they use them for other things? They could put fishbowls around the city and use them as lanterns."

I looked up from the lake and saw Vinny on the not to far away from the lake. It felt like we hadn't talked for a while. I walked to him, getting his attention.

"Hey Vinny! What's up?"

"Angie? Oh, nutin'. Justa walkin' around. You?"

"Same. It's so different from our world, and everyone's so friendly! I like it here." I said, smiling.

"Oh…ya do?" he said in a weird voice.

"Mm-hm! Everyone seems to be in such a good mood. Audrey checks out anything cool, Milo is off with the king's daughter Kida, and Mole's getting chased by angry girls. I'm not sure if he's enjoying it, but I sure am!" I laughed. Vinny laughed half-heartedly.

"Vinny? Are you alright?"

"…No, I'm not."

He stood, looking away silently. He looked like he was feeling guilty about something. I blinked in confusion, putting my hand on his shoulder.

"Vinny, what's-"

"I tink everyone's going to a feast. Let's eat!" he said, obviously trying to look happy. I wanted to know what was wrong, but I didn't want to press him for answers. Usually, I would be really nosy with people's problems when they avoid them, but for some reason, I didn't want to push Vinny.

Everyone but Dad and Helga were at this big feast. I sat in-between Vinny and Mole. Mole was scarfing everything down like a half-starved madman, as expected of him. Vinny was inspecting his many-eyed shrimp as it kicked in his hands, his eyes wide and I laughing at the look on his face.

"Oh, don't forget to eat the head." Sweet advised, cracking the shell on his shrimp and sucking out the gooey green meat. "That's where all the nutrients are." I made a face. Mole lifted his head from his bowl and let out a loud burp.

I looked around the table to find something that looked edible. I saw a giant cooked bird and my blood ran cold, remembering my colorful feathered friend.

"What's the matter Angie? Not hungry?"

"Not anymore."

* * *

"Okay everyone. It's time."

Dad and Helga popped out of nowhere, standing in front of us.

"Time for what Dad?" I asked, a little confused.

"Everyone! To the trucks!" he said, ignoring my question. Everyone's faces turned from fun, to serious. They got up and walked out wit the soldiers.

"Dad…Are we leaving?" I wondered.

"No Angie. I have a favor to ask you." He said, watching everyone leave. "Could you go to the king's chambers and wait for us there? I've got a surprise for him, and I want you there before we get there."

"Okay Dad…sure. I'll be there."

"Thank you Angie. Make sure you're there, we don't want any unnecessary commotion."

I didn't know what was going on, but I felt weird about it. I was headed for the king's chambers when I saw everyone gathering beside a lake. I quickly hid behind a fallen pillar to check it out. I didn't know what was going on, but I wanted to find out. Everyone had guns in their hands, and I knew that couldn't be good.

"Dad…What the hell are you up to?"

Milo came out of the lake, trying to catch his breath as my dad leaned down to him.

"You have a nice swim?"


	6. Masks

I hid behind the fallen pillar, not knowing what was going on. Everyone's faces looked solemn and they all had guns, even Cookie and Packard. Milo looked at them all in confusion as I kept out of sight.

"Hey guys. What's goin' on? What's…what's with all the guns? Guys?" he asked. They responded with silence, Mole even had a weird smile on his face, but not the usual one. This one looked evil…ish.

"I'm such an idiot." He said, hitting his fist on the ground. "This is just another treasure hunt for you-you're after the crystal!" he shouted, getting angrier.

"What?" I whispered to myself. "What's going on?"

"Oh," said Dad, pulling a piece of paper from his boot and grinning. "You mean this."

Milo looked shocked.

"The heart of Atlantis…"

"Yeah, about that I would have told you sooner but it was strictly on a need to know basis, and well, now you know. I had to be sure you were one of us."

'Dad what are you saying? What's he talking about?"

"Welcome to the club son." he said, holding out his hand to Milo in the water.

"I'm no mercenary." said Milo, disgusted. As he said that, Kida swam to the surface, only to be yanked up by her hair. Milo moved to help her, but guns were swiftly pointed at him. Kida grabbed a masked soldier's head and tossed him out in front of her, retreating from the water's banks. She kneed another in the stomach and used the butt of his gun to hit another soldier in the head before throwing him to the ground. It was quite a thing to see before she pulled a knife on him and Dad shot it out of her hand. I could feel my hair stand on end from the sound. Two soldiers grabbed her by the arms and pulled her to her feet.

"Mercenary? I prefer the term…Adventure capitalist. Besides, you're the one who got us here. You led us right to the treasure chest." He said, waving the paper in the air, Milo getting out of the water and moving to my father.

"You don't know what you're tampering with Rourke!"

"What's to know? It's big, it's shiny, it's gonna make us all rich."

"You think its some kind of diamond, I thought it was some kind of a battery, but we're both wrong! It's their life force. That crystal is the only thing keeping these people alive! You take that away and they'll die!"

"Well that changes things. Helga, what do you think?"

"Knowing that…I'd double the price."

"I was thinking triple." he said so calmly.

I could only wonder what was happening to my father. He was acting greedy, obsessive and completely calm with killing an entire civilization out of money.

"Rourke! Don't-do this!!" He said, trying to make his point before Vinny blocked his way, gun in hand.

"Academics…Never want to get you're hands dirty. Think about it. If you gave back every _stolen_ artifact from a museum, you'd be left with an empty building. We're just…providing a necessary service to the archaeological community."

"Not interested." Milo said surely.

"I gotta admit, I'm disappointed. You're an idealist just like your grandfather. Do yourself a favor Milo. Don't be like him. For once, do the smart thing."

Milo kept a steady look of rejection on his face, not giving way to my father's remarks.

"I really hate it when negotiations go sour." Dad said, shaking his head and rubbing his temples. He snapped his fingers and a soldier threw Kida down, pointing a gun to her head. I drew in a quick breath and quickly covered my mouth. Milo's jaw dropped in horror and Dad held up the page, grinning. Milo's head fell in defeat, and he nodded. Dad got everyone rallied as he let Milo put his clothes on, and I knew I had to do something.

* * *

I ran as fast as I could from that place to the king's chambers, not knowing what I was going to do. I just knew I had to do something. I ran inside, panting, and closed the door behind me.

"What is the meaning of this?" the king shouted, his guards raising their spears.

"Your Majesty," I started, out of breath. "my father is planning something terrible! He will be here any minute!"

"What do you mean?"

"He's…He's gonna take your city's crystal. He has Kida and he's going to kill you all if you don-"

Before I could finish, the door exploded behind me and the crew was there with guns, and Helga had Kida hostage.

"Knock Knock." Said Vinny, bouncing a stick of dynamite in his hand. Cookie pointed a gun at the guards.

"Room service!"

The guards raised their spears again, ready to defend their king.

"Tell them to drop their weapons! Now!" Helga yelled, pushing a gun into Kida's side threateningly. The king glared at them but complied.

"_Eph elmn nu-wah_!" he shouted. They dropped their spears to the ground with rebellious looks on their faces.

"Spread out!" Helga yelled. "Search everywhere!"

"Dad, stop this!" I shouted, grabbing his arm and pleading.

"Angie, we're just doing our jobs. No reason to be upset."

"Like hell you are! I know what your doing. I heard every word of your little speech back at the lake."

His face grew stern, and in a flash, it turned

'I didn't want you to find out this way Angie, but-"

"What do you mean you didn't want me to find out? I didn't even want to come here! You made me come on this trip. And what shouldn't I find out? That every trip I've ever gone on with you, you were stealing and murdering? That even before that time came, Mom went without a husband and I went without a father because you were out doing such horrible things to innocent people for money!? That you couldn't even be there for her when she died because you were out playing mercenary?!" I yelled. I could feel my eyes brimming with tears. I wouldn't cry though. Not in front of him. Not then.

He looked angry and sad at the same time, but decided to push his anger onto Milo, grabbing him by the shirt and shoving Milo's journal in his face.

"You're not applying yourself son, there's gotta be something else!'

"Well there isn't." he shouted, shoving the journal away. "It just says, 'The heart of Atlantis lies in the eyes of our king.'"

"Well maybe Old King Cole here can help us fill in the blanks." He said, throwing Milo to the ground and approaching the king, along with two masked soldiers with guns.

"How 'bout it chief? Where's the crystal chamber?" he said, chewing on a wooden match.

"You will destroy yourselves!" he warned, clutching his staff to stand up.

"Maybe I'm not being clear…"

Swiftly, he punched him as hard as he could, the king falling to the ground in pain. I covered my mouth with hands to stifle the gasp that came out, my eyes wide. Kida tried to pull away to help her father, but Helga would have none of that. Kida got really, really angry.

"_Mo-hee guay no co nic_!!"

"Rourke, this was **not **part of the plan." Sweet said, kneeling low next to the king who was breathing heavily.

"Plans change Doc. Now I suggest you put a bandage on that bleeding heart of yours. It doesn't suit a mercenary."

He sat down on the king's throne, knocking over a bowl with his foot, waving his gun in the air, the journal in hand.

"Well as usual, diplomacy has failed us." he said, grinning. "Now I'm going to count to ten and you're going to tell me where the crystal is." He said, the soldiers holding the king up.

"One…" He cocked his gun. Everyone's eyes went wide.

"Dad!" I couldn't get any closer due to the soldiers blocking me off.

"Two…Nine…T-"

He stopped for some reason, not that I wasn't grateful that he did, and looked at the journal, pausing for a moment.

"The heart of Atlantis lies in the eyes of our king…"

He sprung up from the throne, grinning.

"This is it!" he shouted, tossing the journal to Milo. "We're in!"

"Rourke, for the last time, you gotta listen to me." Said Milo, following Dad to the water. "You don't have the slightest idea of what this power is capable of."

"True, but I can think of a few countries who'd pay _**anything**_ to find out." Helga said smugly, holding onto Kida with one hand and pointing a gun with the other.

I could only watch as Dad climbed onto a platform higher in the water. It bubbled and started to lower down, the water around it spilling in.

"Hurry. Get on." He said roughly, pulling Milo on by his shirt, Helga pulling Kida on as well. They went out of sight, and all I could do was stand there, watching everything go down in front of me.

I didn't want to talk to any of them, to find out how they could possibly do all of this and not seem to have any regret on their conscience. The only one who had shown any of that was Sweet. I moved back to the king, crouching down to his level. Sweet looked at me with remorse and concern, moving back to the king.

"I'm sorry sir…"

The king turned his head slowly, breathing heavily, and moved his gnarled, wrinkled hands to me. I held onto his hand as he closed his eyes. He reminded me of what I thought my father was; a proud man who defended his friends and family no matter the costs…I now know that I was wrong.

"You…are not g-…guilty of your f-father's crimes…He is misled…Either my people…and my daughter will pay for his wrongs…or he will suffer…the g-…greatest loss of all…"

He passed out, his grip on my trembling hand loosening. I sat next to him, never wanting to get off my knees…

* * *

The platform rose up after a while, and something had happened to Kida. At least…I thought it was her. She was glowing and her skin was shining over like a star would. I couldn't stop staring. Neither could anyone else. She looked otherworldly as she stepped slowly along the ground. Helga was no longer holding onto her, but by my guess, she couldn't. Kida reminded me of a tiny flame in the dark. You wanted to get close, but if you did, you'd get burned. One thing was for sure. They had gone down there to find the crystal, and they'd found it.

Everyone followed her out of the chambers. I didn't want to leave the kings side, but I still felt connected to the situation at hand, no matter how badly I didn't want to be. Kida walked right into a steel prison that had yet to be built. The walls were assembled around her as she just stood there. It was like she was just going along with all of this, for some reason. Maybe it was for the good of everyone, but it was hard to see a good to anything to any of this. The glass froze over, and so did the girl inside it.

Audrey screwed on the door, receiving a guilt-filled glare from Milo. She looked away, stubborn. I stood beside him, not knowing how all of this would end. Mole cranked a pulley that lifted Kida's frozen prison onto the truck bed.

"Sergeant, keep those people back!" a soldier yelled.

"You heard him, stand back!" Two gun-wielding soldiers pushed Milo, the Atlantian people and I away from the truck bed.

I looked at them all, hoping this was all a mistake. I wanted to look at their faces and feel the same happy feeling I did when we were all having fun. I looked to Audrey. She pouted her lips in a stubborn way, not changing her mind. In a time like this, I even looked to Mole. I couldn't place his reaction. It was sad, but he kept on doing his job. Lastly, I looked to Vinny. For only a moment, he looked back at me with strange eyes before I lost the courage I'd felt and looked away, holding myself in a self-conscious way.

"So, I guess this is how it ends, huh?" Milo started, walking and talking to the teammates we had called friends. "Fine, you win. You're wiping out an entire civilization, but hey. You'll be rich. Congratulations Audrey. I guess you and your dad will be able to open up that second garage after all." Audrey responded with a slammed door and climbing into the truck in an angry fashion.

"And Vinny, you could start a whole chain of flower shops! I'm sure your family's gonna be very proud." Vinny, who had been tying Kida's holding chamber to the truck looked at us with sad eyes, then turned away.

"But that's what it's all about. Money." Cookie and Packard looked out from the truck, ashamed.

"Get off your soapbox Thatch." Dad said, walking towards Milo. I backed up a step and tried to keep my ground. "You've read Darwin. It's called natural selection. We're just helping it along." He poked Milo in the chest, making Milo fume with anger.

"Commander! We're ready." Helga yelled off the truck.

"Yeah, give me a minute. I know I'm forgetting something. The cargo, the crystal, crew-Ohhhh yeah."

Dads spun around and punched Milo in the face, sending him to the ground, a picture spilling from his bag and his glasses flying off his face. Many of the Atlantians gasped. I did too, crouching down to Milo to help him. Dad caught Milo's glasses in the air and started to walk back to him and me.

"Look at it this way son." he said stepping on the picture frame and shattering the glass. Milo tried to reach for them but he was too late. Dad started again, cleaning Milo's glasses.

"You're the man that discovered Atlantis and now you're apart of the exhibit." He tossed Milo's glasses back to him and Milo caught them, wiping the blood from his lip. Milo moved some of the glass and carefully pulled the picture from the shattered frame. He looked at it sadly. The crew looked back, somewhat concerned.

"C'mon Angie, it's time to go."

"…No."

He looked back, I guess to see if I was kidding, like it was funny in some way.

"Angie, we're leaving."

"I'm not going with you. You're doing a terrible thing…and I don't want to be apart of it any more. If I'd known what you were doing earlier I would've never done anything to help you! You may be my Dad but…well…you're crazy and greedy and evil and I 'm ashamed to be called your daughter!"

He was silent. He just stood there. If he had been the man I thought he was an hour ago, maybe I'd feel guilty. I'd feel horrible and ashamed and maybe…just maybe, feel the heartbreak I had just delivered. Now, I just felt angry…and lonelier than ever. He stormed off to the trucks, not stopping to look back at me.

"Let's move people." he yelled to everyone. I moved to Milo again, trying to shield my gaze from my father. He looked up at me strangely, kind of like the face I felt I had on inside. Happy that I'd done the right thing, but sad knowing I just lost the only family I have left to an evil he could never overcome…himself.

"That was an order, not a suggestion! Let's go!" Helga yelled. It was silent for a second, but it was broken by the sound of a car door being kicked open. Audrey hopped out and huffed back towards us, helping me help Milo off the ground. I was cheerful again, hoping that the others would make the same choice. For a reason I couldn't place, my eyes were drawn to Vinny, hoping he would come as well. I gave him a pleading look, not wanting worst to come to worst. Two of my friends were beside me, and I hoped Vinny would be too. He and Audrey were my best friends on this trip, and I never wanted to lose that. Vinny stepped over and put his arm around Milo's neck. Before I could form a smile, His arm was around mine as well. Mole and Cookie came back, not much before Mole stood by me and I hugged him. Don't read too much into that, the little guy deserved a hug. If he did anything else, I'd hurt him. I'd hurt him good. Packard put out her cigarette, along with her stubbornness, and exited the truck.

"Ah-you can't be serious." Dad said, looking back for the first time.

"This is wrong and you know it!!" Audrey shouted. Everyone standing with the Atlantians and Milo agreed, but I couldn't stop looking at my father, hoping he would change his mind. He had done enough damage, but it could be fixed. I know it could.

"We're this close to our biggest payday ever and you pick now of all times to grow a conscious?"

"We donna lotta tings we're not proud of." He said, counting them on his fingers. "Robbing graved, eh-plundering tombs, double parking-but, nobody got hurt. Well, maybe somebody got hurt but…nobody we knew-"

"I think it's okay to stop there Vinny. You made your point." I whispered.

"Well if that's the way you want it fine-**More** for me!"

He started to drive off. I kept thinking…'Stop…please…stop Dad…', but I just watched him go.


	7. The Drums Sound

**I can only say that I'm sorry that this is so late. I thought of using the excuse "I wanted to build dramatic tension" because originally, this was gonna be the last chapter, but it was...too many words...so MANY WORDS!! So next chapter will be the last! Get ready for the fights, the tears, the drama, and the conclusion to Fireworks. I bid you good day. HOO-WAH!!**

* * *

As dad crossed the worn bridge, leaving us with our decision, Atlantis changed. The crystal waterfalls that had been churning down the rocks stopped, causing the ground clouds to disappear. The Atlantian people's crystals that hung around their necks started to lose their glow and fade away. Milo was right. Without that crystal…without Kida, these people and their civilization would die.

"We can't let him do this!!" Milo shouted, running to the bridge after Dad. Vinny ran and grabbed him by the arm for some reason.

"Waita second!"

As if on cue, the last of Dad's trucks crossed the bridge and he detonated Vinny's explosives, sending the bridge in flames into the lake of lava. Milo and Vinny turned away and hit the ground and covered their heads. I was away from the explosion, but I was scared for the two as I felt the hot air rush over my face.

"Okay. Now you can go." Said Vinny, him and Milo raising their heads. I sighed a heavy sigh as I watched Dad pull into the mountain.

"Milo! You better get up here!" Sweet shouted from the king's chambers. We all hurried back, and I was hoping the king was all right after my father's punch.

Milo went inside, but everyone else waited outside. I tried to get in, but Sweet stopped me.

"Maybe you should stay here. It's not good…" he said, looking down-hearted.

"Please Sweet…I need to see him. Dad did this to him…I feel responsible for all that's happened…"

"Angie, you know that's not-"

"Please…"

Sweet smiled softly, and let me in.

"How's he doing?" Milo asked solemnly.

Sweet pulled his stethoscope from the king and sighed.

"Not good I'm afraid. Internal bleeding…there's nothing more I can do…" I felt so horrible. How could Dad do all this without batting an eye? It was just so awful…

Milo walked sadly to the king, rubbing his neck absently.

"What a nightmare…" he said softly. "And I brought it here…"

"Ah, don't go beatin' yourself up." Sweet said reassuringly. "He's been after that crystal since Iceland."

Milo's face brightened.

"The crystal…Sweet that's it! These-" he said, gripping the king's crystal "-These crystals, they have some sort of healing energy! I-I've…I've seen it work."

I had seen it too, and it was still hard to believe. I was so nervous to see if it could be used on the king.

"No…"

The king reached up and clasped his hand around Milo's.

"Where is my daughter?"

"Well sh-she…she…" Milo gave up trying to explain, not knowing how to tell Kida's father about her fate.

"She has been chosen…like her mother…before her…" the king said with a horribly sad face.

"What?"

"In times of danger, the crystal will choose a host…One of royal blood…to protect itself…and it's people…It will accept no other…"

Milo sat beside him, confused.

"W-w-wait a minute, choose? So this thing…is alive?"

"In a way… the crystal thrives…on the collective emotions of all who came before us…" Milo inspected the crystal as the king continued.

"In return, I provides…power…longevity…protection…As it grew…" he said, taking the crystal into his own hand, staring at it. "…it developed a consciousness of it's own…"

He coughed, his voice growing weaker and scratchier, closer to his fate.

"In my arrogance…I sought to use it as a weapon of war, but its power proved…to great to control…it overwhelmed us, and led…to our destruction…"

"That's why you hid it beneath the city. To keep history from repeating itself." said Milo.

"And to prevent Kida from suffering the same fate…as my beloved wife…"

"What do you mean? Wha-what's gonna happen to Kida?"

"If she remains bonded to the crystal…she could be lost to it…forever…the love of my daughter is all I have left…'

I couldn't take much more. I felt so guilty. I had to say something.

"Sir?" I said, quietly. I caught his and Milo's attention.

"I'm…I'm so sorry…this is all my fault…If I could only have stopped him, maybe…maybe things wouldn't be this way…Forgive me…"

"Young one…my daughter is gone…my kingdom is dying…as am I…but it can all be righted…"

I looked at him, feeling the warm stinging tears coming to my eyes.

"How? What…what can **I** do?"

"Stop your father…right his wrongs…help him see the light…If he is too blinded, then he shall lose the love of his daughter, and likewise, his life…"

"…I still love him…I just wish he would be the man I thought he was again…"

The king smiled weakly.

"You have a good heart…If only your father…could see how much you cared for him…As much as I love my daughter…but now, the crystal's troubles have fallen to her…It was supposed to be mine if the time came…"

He turned back to Milo with a sad face.

"My burden would have become hers…when the time was right…"

He took the crystal from around his neck and handed it to Milo.

"But now…it falls to you…"

"Me?"

"Return the crystal…save Atlantis…"

The king closed the crystal in Milo's hand, enclosing it with his own. Milo's face was full of worry and uneasiness.

"Save my daughter…"

His majesty gave a few heavy breaths, his hand loosened on Milo's.

He passed in front of my eyes.

The guards lowered their heads in grief or respect, I wasn't really sure. Milo clutched the crystal close to himself, closing his eyes. I knew the king said I shouldn't feel guilty, but I did. I mean, my father, whom I couldn't stop, had socked the punch that had killed this man. This king. This father…

Sweet closed his medical bag and sighed.

"So." he said. "What's it gonna be?"

"Excuse me?" Milo said, sounding confused.

"I followed you in, and I'll follow you out. It's your decision."

"Oh, _my_ decision? I think we've seen how effective _my_ decisions have been. Let's re-cap. I lead a band of plundering vandals to the greatest archaeological find in recorded history, thus enabling the kidnap and/or _murder_ of the royal family, not to mention personally delivering the most powerful force known to man into the hands of a mercenary _nutcase_ who's probably gonna sell it to the _Kaiser!_ _**Have I left anything out!?"**_

"Well, you did set the camp on fire and drop us down that big hole."

"Thank you! Thank you very much!"

Milo sat down on an overturned vase and he hung his head. I walked slowley to him and put my hand on his shoulder.

"Milo…It's not just your fault. We have to stop my dad together. None of us can do it alone. It took our combined efforts to make it here, and it's gonna take all of us to save it…I know it seems like there's no hope but…"

I tried to think if something to say to make him feel better, but nothing came. It did seem like there was no hope.

"…I'm not sure what to tell you Milo…I'm feeling just as guilty as you, even though the king told me not to. None of this is your fault…It's my fathers…we need to find a way to make this all right…to let him know that Atlantis and it's people will not go down without a fight…but…it seems like were at the bottom of the bottom…"

"Of course, it's been my experience, when you hit bottom, the only place left to go is up." Sweet said, picking up the journal.

"Who told you that?" Milo asked him, sighing.

"A fellow by the name of Thaddius Thatch."

Milo sat for a moment looking at the crystal that the king had given him, the glow luminating his face. He tossed it up and caught it in his hand, looking more determined.

Milo strode out of the chambers, Sweet and I following. Everyone was outside, watching him with confusion.

'Where are you going?" Audrey shouted after him.

"I'm going after Rourke."

"Milo that's crazy!" She retorted.

"I didn't say it was the smart thing…but it is the right thing."

Audrey's face looked angry, but she sighed loudly and said

"C'mon! We better make sure he doesn't hurt himself…"

I smiled, knowing she wanted to help just as much as we did.

* * *

Milo climbed up a fish-looking statue thing covered with vines; sitting on it's back.

"Milo, what do you think you're doing?"

"Just follow my lead."

He took off the crystal, turning it in the fish. Blue lights started to flow through it's eyes and it floated off the ground. Everyone stared in awe. I blinked and felt excited.

"That…**IS SO COOL!!**" I shouted, jumping a little.

"Well, I'm impressed." said Packard in her usual tone, taking a drag of her cigarette.

"It's simple. All you gotta do-"

Audrey, who had climbed onto the fish, rolled her eyes and ignored him.

"Yeah yeah yeah, shut up, we get it-"

"No-**NO** WAIT!!"

The fish gave a screeching sound as she hit her hand down on it, sending it up higher and slamming into a wall behind them. The Atlantians gasped at the sight, seeing their own statue move like that.

"**Gently!**" Milo shouted. Audrey gave him a nasty glare and his tone softened.

"Just…gently."

"'Ey Milo, you got something sporty, you know, like a tuna?" Vinny shouted. I laughed a little, feeling that everything was a little brighter with this new discovery to help us.

"How is this done?" An Atlantian soldier with a spear shouted to him.

"All you gotta do is use the crystals. Kida showed me." Milo told him, hopping off the fish. He moved to a hammerhead shark shaped statue, hopping and standing in the seat. I looked through the crowd to see how he did it.

"Half-turn right, quarter-turn back, keep your hand on the pad!"

The Atlantian soldiers gazed at their crystals with a new hope and happiness, doing what Milo showed them with the fish-statues around them. Cookie and Packard were in one fish, as were Sweet and Audrey, and Mole was on his own fish, looking anxious.

Vinny hopped onto his fish, watching as I hopped onto one of my own. The Atlantians started them up for us, ready to go. Everyone around us was excited, but I felt cold and anxious, like all the blood in my face had drained away.

"How are you holdin' up Angie?" he asked, I was pretty sure he saw the way I was looking.

"Fine. I just want to stop Dad and get home in one piece! When I see 'im, I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind!" I shouted.

"Sounds like a plan." he said, smirking a little.

"Saddle up partners, bring jerky and ammo!" Cookie shouted happily, twirling his shotgun.

Mole was bouncing anxiously; making his fish bob in mid-air.

"I'm so _excited_!" he said in his weird way.

"Alright, this is it! We're gonna rescue the princess! We're gonna save Atlantis! Or we're gonna die trying! **Now let's do it!**" Milo shouted to everyone as we pulled off the ground. Piloting that fish was a lot easier than I thought it would be. It wobbled at first, but then it took off fast and steady. The Atlantians who'd stayed behind cheered and waved their goodbye's and good luck's, but the loud humming of the ships soon drowned them out. We flew across the unmoving waterfalls and pulled into the cave, ready to give everything we had and more for this place.

"Okay, here's the plan!" Milo yelled to us. "We're gonna come in low and fast, and take 'um by surprise!"

"I've got news for you Milo, Rourke is never surprised and he's got a lot of guns!" Audrey yelled.

"All too true…" I said to myself, feeling restless.

"Great, well do you have any suggestions!?" Milo snapped back. Vinny had a good comeback.

"Yeah! Don' get shot!!"

I couldn't help but feel uneasy at that. Would he really shoot at us? Okay…he would, I could admit that now, but would he shoot at me?

Someone's was just out to get me at that point. But hopefully things would turn out all right. Maybe I could save Dad…maybe we could get things back to the way they were…maybe I could live without the guilt of letting a civilization die on my shoulders…

Maybe's a stupid word…


	8. Belonging

The sound of machines resonated through the caves. I was in a state somewhere between wanting to die myself and wanting to kill my own father. I wasn't in any shape to be doing much of anything. Yet, here I was, flying on an ancient hover fish and careening towards my fate. My friends beside me who just minutes ago had been ready to kill an entire race for a profit had turned around and offered a hand of support in ending the delusions of a man I was once proud to call Dad.

Needless to say, I had a bit of a problem on my hands.

I had the situation of wondering if my father really could kill me. He had killed Kida's father and captured Kida herself, and abandoned the whole crew in a dying kingdom, along with the only bit of flesh and blood he had left on this earth.

I steadied the hover fish under me as it rushed through the dormant volcano, and I leaned forward, determined, yet still uneasy.

The air was hot and tense as we came into the tunnel. The big, pointed red blimp was surrounded by Dad's uniformed men, all at work while Dad hooked Kida's chamber onto a chain.

"There they are!!" Milo shouted to everyone. My breath hitched as Dad spotted us and yelled something to his men.

"Please dad…stop…"

Shots rang from both the gunmen and the fish as the echoes rang in my ears. The men just kept shooting and the fish avoided every shot they could. A fish not far from my own piloted by an Atlantian soldier was hit and sparked, crashing into the ground. Another Atlantian soldier shot a gunman with a bow and arrow. The red blimp started to rise up into the air, and small aircrafts were launched. Their shots, more powerful and faster than the men on the ground, they came at us with reckless abandon. A shot was coming right for my head and I leaned fast to the side, the fish twirling with my weight. I narrowly avoided the shot and steadied the fish again. A shot nearly hit Milo and his eyes went wide.

"Holy smokes!! You told me he only had guns!!" he screamed to Audrey.

"What I said was he's never surprised!!"

The fighting went on, and I saw a gunman on the ground take aim. I followed his line of fire to Vinny and gasped, flying closer.

"Vinny!! Watch out!!"

He noticed my shouting and saw the shots coming at him. He pulled off a little, and the shots hit the side of his hover fish. I held my breath, praying silently. He was thrown a bit to the side and as his hand slammed down on the controls, a shot of blue lightning shot from the fish's mouth and hit a truck. As it exploded, a very surprised look rose to Vinny's face.

"Okay. **Now **tings are getting' good."

I exhaled finally, thanking whatever just kept him safe. I pulled up next to him quickly, careful not to ram into him.

"Are you alright?" I asked, my voice sounding panicked.

"Yeah. Tanks for da heads up." He said, smiling his oddly calm smile. I smiled back, turning my attention to the battle at hand.

"Vinny! Angela! Head's up! We can't let 'em reach the top of that shaft!!"

We both looked on through the explosions and saw the balloon had raised a lot higher, slowly making its escape. I panicked, my mind racing and flooding with anxiety.

'Think Angie…You need to get Kida out before something big happens…But how?"

The king's dying words to me flooded my ears over the sounds of carnage and destruction.

_Stop your father…right his wrongs…help him see the light…If he is too blinded, then he shall lose the love of his daughter, and likewise, his life…_

I shook my head. A few more bolts of lightning flew and more shots from the aircrafts came at us. I could see Packard and Cookie on their fish, Cookie waving his shotgun around and Packard taking pictures of the battle. I hit myself in the head, frustrated beyond belief.

'C'mon think!! You're a navigator! You're good at planning things! You're good at leading people out of bad situations!! Now, think damnit!!'

Then, an idea hit me. It hit **hard**. I flew closer to Milo and he whipped his head around to face me.

"Milo! I've got it! I've got a plan!!"

"A plan! Great!!" he smiled, looking optimistic. "What is it?"

"We need to be **ducks**!!"

He looked at me strangely. I caught my words and shook my head in frustration.

"I mean…uh…**sitting ducks**!! We need to draw fire from the others and get Kida out of there!! If a few of us go out, then a few sweep the bottom out of sight and release Kida's container!!"

"That's crazy! If we do distract them and they spot the others, there's no one to cover their backs! They'd get shot down faster than we would!!"

Audrey and Sweet pulled closer in their hover fish and leaned in.

"Kid, you heard the navigator! She's been right about everything else on the way here, why stop now!?" Sweet yelled over the loud destruction in the air.

"Yeah Milo, I trust in Angie! She's a great navigator, and I'll follow the plan of anyone who knows their way around an engine like she does!!" Audrey grinned at me.

I smiled widely, flashing the two of them a silent thank you. The both of them smiled back, showing their trust in all of this. Milo's face turned from a look of disbelief to full understanding and determination.

"Alright, let's hope this works, or it's over."

Vinny was bit ahead of the rest of us. He shot down a plane with his lightning and blew the remains in his face. He came back, his fish and body blackened by the remains. We all followed him closer as he pulled in next to Vinny.

"Vinny, new plan!! You and Angie and me are gonna be decoys!! Audrey, Sweet, fly up underneath that thing and cut her loose!"

"And _moi_?" a shrill voice rang. From seemingly out of nowhere, Mole had pulled up on the other side of Milo, surprising us all. Milo looked confused.

"Um…Mole…you…"

Mole looked at him with feverish enthusiasm, bouncing his fish in the air in sheer delight.

"…you…you keep an eye on Cookie and Packard! Make sure they stay out of danger!"

"_Oui! _I will not disappoint you _mon capitan!!_"

Mole flew off, snickering and giggling in his nasally way. Milo turned to the rest of us and regained his earlier demeanor.

"Well, what are you waiting for!? Let's do this!!"

"We're on it!" Sweet said. He and Audrey flew up underneath the tall balloon and got to work. Milo flew off quicker than I thought the fish could go. I looked at Vinny, and he looked at me. I smiled wide.

"You got my back?" I asked, hunching my shoulders over the fish in anticipation. He grinned, his moustache twitching as he did.

"An' you got mine!"

We flew in, Vinny shooting his lightning and I got closer to the ship. Helga was on the rails of the balloon and saw him. She started shooting at him with her handgun. I got in as close as I could to her. I was supposed to have his back, and he'd do the same for me.

"Hey Helga! You think you can shoot as well as you can bark orders!?!" I shouted. She glared and started firing at me. I pulled away as quick as I could, but one of her shots got my fish's side. I stared down at her, and she smirked.

"Apparently, she can…"

My fish started smoking and crackling with the blue lightning. I panicked, fearing the worst.

"Oh no no no no no!!!"

It blew up from under me, and I shut my eyes. The warm air and smoke from the explosion surrounded me, and I could feel a sharp pain in my arm. I could feel the blood start to run down it from the new wound.

'Is this it for me?' I thought. 'Is this really it? I can't go now…"

I felt myself fall farther down, my hair whipping around my face. Then, I felt someone catch me with a thud. I could only hope it was my backup at this point, and not that I was imagining things in my last few moments of life.

I opened my eyes to find my savior. It was Vinny. I was shocked that I had survived and happy to see him at the same time.

"Dat was quite a hit ya took Angie. I tink you should sit dis one out."

I looked to my arm, seeing the gash in it from my fish's debris. I ignored the feeling of panic rising in me and turned to him once again.

"Vinny, you gotta take me back up there!"

His face turned pale with shock.

"Back up dere? No way would I do dat!! Look at chu!" he shouted, his voice full of dread. "I can't let chu go back up de-"

I pulled his face into my hands and stared him straight in the eyes.

"Vinny, I swear, if you do this one thing for me, I'll do anything you ask me to! I'll learn Italian! I'll buy you the best dynamite ever made! I'll comb your mustache!! Just help me stop my dad and take me back up there!!!"

He looked at me, his eyes wide and his brow furrowed. He looked like he was fighting his conscious on this one.

"Please…"

He hesitated, but then he set me behind him in his fish and turned it to face the balloon once again.

"Hang on to sometin' Angie!"

We shot straight at the ship, I went backwards a bit, but grabbed around Vinny's chest. I sat my head against his back, partly to keep the rushing wind out of my face and partly because I was so grateful to him.

"Thank you Vinny…"

We came up to find Milo circling the ship, getting closer and closer. Dad had a huge gun and was firing a shower of bullets like a madman. I grit my teeth.

"Vinny, how good is your aim with the lightning?" I asked him. He grinned, his mustache twitching again. He pulled above Dad and slammed his hand on the fish, sending the lightning out and shattering the gun in his hands.

"Dat good."

Dad held his wrist, glaring up to see his attacker, his teeth grit in an angrier way than I'd ever seen him. Vinny smiled and saluted him, hovering near for a few seconds. Helga ran to his side, seeing us. Dad's line of vision turned to me his expression changed. I looked at him with a pleading gaze. His rage flaring, he pulled a handgun from his waistband and aimed at us.

"Dad, don't! Please! Call it off! You can still save yourself! You can still save these people!! PLEASE!!!" I screamed, the desperation clear in my voice. Vinny looked ready to move if he had to, but stayed still. Dad let his anger fade for a moment, lowering the gun.

"You're my baby girl Angie!!" He shouted. "Your mother would not be proud of me!!"

I smiled. Maybe, just maybe, I could save him, just like the king said I could. Dad looked at me with an apologetic smile. I gave the same look back.

"I can't do it Angie."

A grin slowly spread on his face. Without a second thought, he handed the gun to Helga.

"But **she **can!!"

Helga grinned and aimed, firing at us. Vinny pulled out sharply, the bullets missing us by mere inches. I grabbed around Vinny's chest again, feeling like I couldn't breathe.

"Angie, I'm sorry." Vinny said to me. "I know he's your dad and all, but he's not one of us anymore."

"I know Vinny…I just wish I could've changed his mind…"

Out of nowhere, we heard the sound of an explosion. We both whipped our heads to see Helga dropping small bombs on Sweet and Audrey as they tried to free Kida's chamber. Before she could hit them with the second one, Sweet pulled Audrey off into their fish and flew off. I let out a breath of relief.

I may have done that too soon though, because right after that, we saw Milo speeding right for the balloon with no sign of stopping. He careened towards it, and I held my breath. He took what I can only describe as a leap of faith and jumped off, the fish crashing into a side balloon and popping it in an explosively loud boom. The balloon started to sink a little, and I saw Vinny lean in.

"We gotta grab 'im!" he shouted. I looked to Milo expecting to see a look of terror, but instead I saw a look of pure determination and fury.

"Vinny! Don't!"

"What!? Why not!?!" he shouted back.

"If I know Milo half as well as I think I do, he's got a plan. The best thing we can do for him is stay close by until he's finished!"

Vinny looked at me, nodding and turning away. We got away from the ship and caught up to Sweet and Audrey. Mole was with them, as well as Packard and Cookie. Mole seemed to have lost his ship and was hanging onto Packard and Cookie's.

"Mole?" I shouted. "What happened to your fish?"

"Eh heh…I was-uh…shot down. Why? Were you worried about me, _mon cheri_?" he snickered. I rolled my eyes, smiling a little. Vinny snorted.

"Vinny! Angie! We couldn't get the container off!" Audrey yelled to us.

"It's fine! Milo's got a plan and he'll be okay! I know it!!" I yelled back.

A booming explosion from the airship reached us all, and we saw the whole thing go up in the flames.

"Oh no…" Audrey said in an unusually meek voice. Sweet and Vinny's eyes went wide, and I gripped around Vinny's chest even tighter.

"No…"

'It wasn't supposed to be this way…Dad was gonna take me on this mission with him, and I was gonna learn something...I was gonna make him proud of me…And now…'

"Wait…Look!" Sweet yelled. We all looked back to see the balloon in flames, but to our surprise, and our relief, and our horror, Milo and Dad were on top of Kida's container. Dad was swinging an axe at Milo. The panicky feeling I'd been repressing rose up and I swear I felt my heart stop.

Dad swung the axe down at Milo, but he missed by only inches, hitting the glass window of Kida's container instead.

And then…something I can't really explain happened. Dad had Milo by the throat and then…he changed. Amongst the carnage going on around us, and everything we'd all gone through today, Dad was changing into something else…

A monster.

Milo avoided the attack from him and led what I thought was my father into the spinning blades if the balloon's airship and he exploded. The canister and Milo fell with the debris and smoke that came from it.

"Oh my god…"

Everyone was just as horribly confused as I was. I pushed it out of my head and got back in the game.

"C'mon! We're all gonna need each other to get Milo and Kida's container out of here!"

Mole grinned and saluted as he climbed into Vinny's fish. It bobbed a bit with his weight, but it could hold. We all took off to help our friend.

Milo had jumped out of the way from a flaming ball of wreckage, pushing Kida's container first when we reached him on the ground. Sweet, Vinny, and Mole had jumped off to get him when the ground started to rumble and groan, echoing throughout the chamber. Audrey stepped off her fish and felt it too.

"What is that?" I asked from a top Vinny's fish. Mole started to shake and jitter about, breathing heavy.

"Ze Volcano!!" he gasped. "She **AWAKES**!!!!"

"Ey! I ad noting to do with it!" Vinny said, a lit stick of dynamite in hand.

"Vinny! This is no time for your dangerously off-putting sense of humor!!" I yelled. Vinny looked at the stick with suddenly wide eyes and put it out.

"This here'd be a good place not to be!" Cookie shouted from his fish.

"No, wait, we gotta get her back or the whole city will die!!" Milo shouted, attaching a hooked chain to the steel container that held the princess we all knew as Kida.

"And if we don't get out of here, we'll die!!" Audrey shouted, running up and taking the chain into her hands. Milo looked at her with angry yet pleading eyes. Audrey was upset with it, but she decided he was right. Though, I know she'd never admit it out loud.

Vinny climbed back onto the fish and caught the chain as Audrey threw it to him. Everyone worked to hook Kida's container onto Vinny's fish. When it was, Milo and Audrey jumped onto the fish as well and our group started to pull out. The chain snapped and we looked back in horror as the lava started to rise from the ground. Milo lowered himself the ground to hook it up again.

"Milo, no!" Audrey shouted, afraid for him. I looked at him with a bit of a grin on my face.

"For a cartographer, and a linguist, you gotta admit, he's a brave fool." I said to Vinny. Vinny nodded as Milo avoided the lava bubbling from the ground and hooked the container up again.

"GO!!!" he screamed. Vinny nodded and flew the fish out, Milo hanging onto the steel box for dear life. It waved like a kite tail as we pulled out of the now active volcano, a number of Atlantians on fish in front of us, as well as Sweet, Mole, Packard and Cookie. The magma started to pour down the cavern we were escaping from and it was a river below us. If we slowed down even a little, Milo would most likely be dipped into was I can only describe as the fiery liquid hell. But Milo clutched the steel prison, protected what seemed to be not only his own life, but Kida's as well.

"Vinny!" I shouted over the rush of the magma, clutching around him as not to fall off. "Whatever you do, don't slow down!!"

"Wasn't plannin' on it." he said in his usual calm voice.

All the hover fish poured out of the cave near the waterfall, the magma following suit. It enveloped the digger below us and even with all of this going on, I could still hear Mole crying ahead of us. We came to the city in the stone ritual circle we had arrived through. The sky was darkening, only a thin horizon of red clouds was left of the daytime. Vinny slowed down as we lowered, Atlantians who had remained in the city came out to see our arrival.

The container lowered onto the ground, Milo hopped off, and an Atlantian soldier approached him quickly with a spear. Milo took it from him and tried to pry open the hatch door. Vinny, Sweet, Audrey and I stepped off the fishes, looking worriedly at the cracking mountain side as it teemed with magma.

"Ze fissure! It is about to eject its **veroplastic fury**!!!" Mole shouted, hopping around in a fit.

"Milo!" Sweet shouted. "Mole say the wall's gonna blow!!"

Milo kept prying and prying at the door until it finally cracked a bit. But it seemed that that little bit of escaped power made the whole thing split open. The crystal consumed Kida was free from the walls, and they began to orbit around her. Vinny pulled me back and we moved as far away as we could. We all knew that Milo was the only one who could do whatever needed to be done.

The ground began to glow through lines between the stone linings of the city. It glowed that ghostly and somehow calming blue glow and it enveloped everything. But then, the ground shook, the color fading as stone carvings and split the ground under Kida. They glowed the same blue glow, and each had a different face on it. They rose up to Kida and encircled her.

I had no idea what was going on, and by the looks on everyone else's faces, neither did they. Even Milo seemed confused by it, but more so, he was worried for Kida. The stone faces began to spin around Kida and formed a ball of energy. We all looked up in amazement and disbelief. I couldn't stop staring. It seemed so pure but so powerful…

It shot a beam of itself into the city. Then another and another, and all around the city, stone mean rose from places they seemed to have been resting for forever. They towered over everyone, their eyes the glowing blue.

The magma was now bursting and gushing from the mountain. The stone men, even when being hit by the chunks of mountain flying at them, didn't stop moving. They encircled the edge of the city from everywhere, clapping their hands together and releasing balls of the crystal's energy in an enveloping dome, protecting the city.

I would never forget that for the rest of my life. The sheer beauty, amazement, and oddity, of it all would see to that. Everyone looked on in fear and astonishment as the magma poured over the entire city, covering the dome of energy and solidifying. It only took a few moments for the energy to break through and crack the hardened magma. It crumbled off piece by piece and it seemed a bit more peaceful. The waterfalls began to flow again.

Through the misty clouds that hovered over the city, Kida appeared. She floated down from a beam of light. Milo, unsure at first, caught her around her waist, cradling her as if he was afraid she would break. She laid in his arms and slowly came around. She looked up at him with eyes that seemed brighter than before.

"Milo?" she said, her voice tired. He smiled at her warmly, and she gave a tired, but warm smile back. She hugged him, and he didn't hesitate in the slightest to hug her just as tightly.

I covered my mouth, feeling as if I could cry. Everything was okay…Everything was back to what it was. Milo had kept his promise to the king...

Vinny put his hand on my shoulder, looking down at me when I looked up at him. He smiled, reassuring my last remaining worries that hung by a thread. Everyone looked over the cliff to the newly reborn city.

Nobody was talking, but everyone was thinking the same thing.

It was perfect.

* * *

We were preparing to leave. We all gathered around Kida and Milo near the ship to shove off. I suppressed the urge to swear as Sweet redressed my wound.

"Atlantis will honor your names forever." Said Kida, placing a crystal necklace around Vinny's neck. "I only wish there was more we could do for you."

"Eh…you know, thanks anyway…but uh…"

He looked back at the pile of gold being loaded onto the ship.

"I tink we're good."

Kida came up to give me my crystal, though I didn't feel like I deserved it. Kida saw my troubled face and tipped my chin up.

"Angela. Life will be hard for the both of us without our fathers to guide us." She said softly, in a kind voice that I needed to hear. "But, even without them we must go on."

I nodded, still feeling a bit unsure. She saw it and grinned a little grin. She slipped the necklace over my head and leaned in close to my ear.

"_It will not be that hard though_." She whispered. "_We both have someone we love by our sides to help us._"

I pulled away, looking at her, puzzled. She motioned her head behind me, and I turned around. She was looking…

…at Vinny?

He saw us looking at him and raised an eyebrow.

I looked back at her, confused, but blushing for some reason I couldn't understand.

"_You told me to go after Milo. I am returning the favor!_"

She gave me a strong hug, smiling. I was so…confused.

'Me and Vinny?' I thought, racking my brain. 'That's…weird, and **crazy**…and-'

I looked at him. He saw me and smiled, his mustache twitched a little bit when he did.

'…and…not…such a crazy idea admittedly…' I thought, my face feeling warm.

"They'll take you as far as the surface." Milo said, looking at the lot of us. He seemed a bit sad to see us go. Kida looked at him with a knowing smile.

"We're really gonna miss you Milo." Audrey said, sounding sad and happy at the same time. Vinny started towards him.

"You know, I'm gonna reopen da flower shop." He said, grabbing Milo by his arms. His voice sounded a little wavering, like he could cry. "And I'm gonna think of you guys every single day. From Monday thru Friday. Nine to five. Saturday 'till two…Sunday, I'm gonna take Sunday off probably…maybe I'll go in for a couple hours, you know? August, I'm gonna take August…"

He was in his own world now, that lovable bomb-tossing fool. Cookie went to him next.

"I ain't so good at speech-ifying…but I want you ta have this!" he said, sounding like he would cry. "It's the bacon grease from the whole trip."

"Cookie…I-"

But Cookie got too emotional and cut him off, coming back to the group. Milo smiled.

Audrey snuck up behind him, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Ah! Two for flinching!" She hit him lightly on the arm a couple of times, smiling. "See ya Milo."

She flicked his glasses as Mole came out from the ground behind him.

"Eeeeeeehhhhhhhh Milo!!" he laughed in his way. He was covered in dirt, flies buzzing around his head. He had his arms out for a hug. Milo obviously was hesitant.

"Oh ho oh ho…Mole! Wow…hey-well…Goodbye Mole." He said with a well intentioned pat on the head. Mole looked terribly confused

"Now, you sure you wanna stay?" Sweet asked him, sounding like he already knew the answer. "There's a hero's welcome waiting for the man who discovered Atlantis."

"Nah…I don't think the world needs another hero. Besides, I hear there's an opening down here for an expert in gibberish."

"You take good care of yourself Milo Thatch." Sweet told him, reaching out a hand.

"Yeah…" Milo said, embarrassed. He held out his hand, only to be pulled into a tight hug. I could hear his back cracking. Milo's face was scrunched in pain.

"Uh…Sweet, before you go, could you-"

Sweet twisted him around, popping his neck as he once had.

"No problem."

"Ah…thanks."

"Oh…" Sweet laughed in his deep voice. "You're getting' a bill."

He smiled at him. I felt a sense of sadness wash over me, seeing him stay behind. He saw me, and his smile stayed. I stepped closer to him, feeling a bit depressed.

"So, this is it, eh Milo?" I asked. "You think we'll ever all see each other again?"

"Hey!" he laughed. "Anything's possible. You take care of yourself Angela."

"I told you a million times Milo-"

"Gotcha. See ya Angie."

I felt some sense of happiness come over me. I reached into my bag, pulling out my gift to them. It was the jade disk necklace Dad gave me years ago.

"Here Milo. This is something that means a lot to me…Dad…gave it to me, back when he was still, you know…sane." I laughed under my breath. "I…I want piece of him here that isn't…tainted with evil and all that…"

He looked at me, a sad expression on his face.

"Angie, I'm sorry I had to-"

"No! Don't say it, or I'll never get out of here without crying." I laughed, already feeling a lump forming in my throat. He smiled again, pulling me into a hug. I hugged him back, not letting myself cry. This was a happy moment.

"And besides…" I said, catching my breath. "Think of it as…an engagement present."

Milo turned red at that, smiling and stuttering a bit. Kida grinned and held his hand. They were cute together.

"Can we go home now?" Packard asked in her usual drone.

"C'mon y'all. Let's get one last shot in front of the fish!" Sweet said. Everyone gathered by the narwhal ship we were about to board. I stood next to Vinny, for, now obvious reasons to myself. He picked up a spear and posed with it.

"What d'ya tink Angie? Do I look like a brave soldier or what?" he asked, turning his chin high and steeling his face. I rolled my eyes, grabbing his arm to snap him out of it.

"I think your brave enough, alright." I laughed. I pulled his face closer to give him a kiss on the cheek. "And that's just one of the reasons I love you."

His eyes went wide for a moment, and I just smiled at him. He looked back at me, rubbing his cheek, his eyes returning to normal.

"I can live wit dat." he said, pulling me closer to him. I laughed, hugging him.

"Say _yacccsh!!_"

"**Yacccsh!!!**" we chimed together. A split-second before the camera went off, Vinny leaned in and kissed me, and that's how we remained in that picture, for years to come.

* * *

We all saw each other again about five months later, in Mr. Whitmore's house. Everyone certainly seemed the same, save for their clothes. They seemed to have spent their money wisely…

I had kept in touch with Audrey, and she kept on touch with Sweet. She opened that shop with her dad, and took the liberty of keeping Milo's cat, Fluffy. Sweet had opened a healing center, which used both his medical and his spiritual healing knowledge together to help people. He was a well respected doctor now. Cookie and Packard seemed to only have been enjoying their golden years, and that was as it should be. The world wasn't really ready for a chain of Cookie's home-cooking diners anyway, and Packard just needed the time off. I didn't know what Mole had been doing, but that was probably for the best.

And Vinny? Well…we had actually been dating. He opened that flower shop and I got a job there I could see him a lot. It's kind of funny in retrospect. I spent so much time and effort getting fancy college degrees to impress my father and I end up working in a flower shop to be near a guy. But spending my days tending to flowers while watching my boyfriend get hounded by teenagers for corsages has made it all worthwhile.

Mr. Whitmore looked at us. He flipped through the pictures Packard had taken throughout the trip, retelling the story we'd designed so no one else would travel to the once lost empire called Atlantis.

"Now, let's go over it again, just so we got it straight. You didn't find anything?"

"Nope." Vinny said. "Just a lotta rocks. And fish-Little fish…Sponges…"

"What happened to Helga?"

"Well, we lost 'er when a flamin' zeppelin come down on 'er-"

Packard hit Cookie on the head with her umbrella.

"Uh-Missing."

"That's right. And Rourke?"

"Nervous breakdown. You could say he went all to pieces." Sweet joked. I cleared my throat, and he sat up straighter. I knew Sweet meant well though.

"In fact, ya could say he was **transmorgafied**, and the busted into a zillion-uh…he's missing too."

"What about Milo?"

"Went down with the sub!" Audrey told him. Mole had stripped himself of his nice clothes and proceeded to dig himself into Mr. Whitmore's potted plant, chuckling in that nasally way.

"Lord give me strength…" Sweet said under his breath.

"I'm gonna miss that boy." Mr. Whitmore sighed. "But at least he's in a better place now…"

He opened Milo's package, finding his crystal inside, along with his note.

I looked at my friends, the people who had been helping me through these hard times, and I smiled, as strange as they looked in their new clothes, they were still themselves. Although I tried to tell Vinny he looked absolutely silly in that tux and diamond earring, he said it made him feel fancy. I have to say, I can't ever carry on fight with that man. Once he makes me laugh, which is quite often, it's over for me. I'm done.

We said our goodbyes to everyone, promising to keep in touch and meet up again soon, and we parted ways. Vinny and I stayed together, needing to go back to the shop and water the plants for the night. It was very cold out that day. I shivered, breathing on my hands. Vinny pulled me into his coat and smiled at me, his mustache giving a twitch. I grinned.

"Vinny?" I asked, leaning into him for warmth.

"Hm."

"How do you think Milo and Kida are doing?"

"I'm sure they're doin' just fine. Milo's probably glad he's not here for winter."

"Do you think they're happy?"

"If what **I**got right here is any clue, den yes. I tink they're very happy."

I smiled again. For a guy who loves explosions, Vinny sure was a romantic thing.

"Hey, Angie. Remember back in Atlantis, when you said dat if I took you up to yur dad, you'd do anything for me, say yes to anything?"

"I seem to remember something like that. Why? Have a request?"

"Hm…not yet. Sometime soon though…"

Walking with him that day was a very special thing, even more special than I knew back then. Because in the pocket of that coat was something that Vinny had been debating on when to give me. Not today, he decided. It's too cold. "I want that day to be perfect" he decided.

So, if you were wondering…Yeah. There are definitely some fireworks between us.

* * *

**Oh…my…god…**

**It's been so long since I updated this. But it's done! And I'm happy with it!! Huzzah!!!**

**Anywho, I'm glad this story got added to that community, whatever it's called. If that's where you saw this, please tell me!**

**If you're thankful this was completed, if you're still reading it, thank kali yugah. Kali kicked my butt into gear with the ending and gave me some of the ideas on how to end it. Although, I have to admit, I was really surprised when some of her ideas were what I had in mind, but decided against earlier. **

**The reason this is so late? Well, let's just saw after scrutinizing the movie for all the other chapters, I got kind of burned out on Atlantis. I found myself watching with my old mentality once I started writing the last chapter. I literally did it in one day. It took many, many, many hours of that day and into the night, but I finished it. **

**If I have to say one thing, it's that during the fight scene near the end that went on forever, I noticed that they lost track of characters! A first, Mole was alone, then he just disappeared, then he was on Vinny's fish, even though we clearly saw Vinny alone on his fish. And Cookie and Packard just were shown in the middle and then at the end of the fight, so that was confusing.**

**So, in conclusion, thank you for sticking around this long. Thank you for reading and staying by Angie's side through all of this. Thank you for the encouraging words, and thank you for reading Fireworks.**

**And did 'ya see what I did with the title at the end? I thought it was funny to have it mean romantic fireworks and Vinny's explosion addiction. Anyway, thanks for reading!**


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